May 15, 2012

The CGA tennis team, missing players due to injury and AP tests, rolled into Warsaw to find a 7-5 team even more decimated by injury, missing players from first singles all the way through both doubles teams, even losing one player to a sprained ankle during warm-ups. Sonia Shen, in her first match back after a shoulder injury, played with cool efficiency, winning quickly. Natalia Lopez-Yanez was similarly efficient, despite dealing with nausea. Paulina Cano won quickly as well. At second doubles, Olivia Cripe and Kendall Whitehurst won without dropping a game. The JV squad won 5 of 10 total matches, including 4 of the top 5 matches.

Full results follow:

May 12, 2012

Our CGA JV tennis team travelled to Marian high school to participate in Penn High School's annual JV tennis tournament. Because of rain delays, several teams were unable to make it and thus, the teams present were Culver, Penn A and Penn B, Marian A and Marian B, Northridge A and Northridge B, and a combination team of extra players named the Aces.

While it was an early start for our JV players, they rose to the occasion and quickly took control of the courts in Round 1 to show that we were not to be overlooked. Regina Padilla played 1 singles, Nancy Wu played 2 singles, Lindsay Haller played 3 singles, Michelle Molner and Molly Walker played 1 doubles, and Katherine Hansen and Miriam Ramirez filled out the team at 2 doubles.

Round 1 held some tough competitors for our ladies, especially at 2 doubles. We faced off against Northridge A's team. They were a team with strong serves and excellent placement. We started off shaky and were down 1-5. However, one of the Northridge players experienced an injury. We used that break to discuss the importance of placing shots and Miriam and Katherine stepped up to the challenge bringing the score back to 6-7. In the final game, we used many well-placed volleys and strong cross-courts, but the Northridge team was just too much. We ended up losing the match 6-8.

Round 2 brought on new challenges as Nancy battled Northridge A. It was a close match the entire way and ended with a tiebreaker 7-5. There were several amazing rallys and it was obvious that both girls were skilled in placement and mixing up short balls with fierce groundstrokes. On the doubles side, Michelle and Molly fought every point. Northridge A proved to be the team to beat on all of our courts. Michelle and Molly were first overwhelmed by the crowd support of Northridge. After fighting back from being down 2-5, the girls ended up winning 9-7. It was a very intense match from the players and the crowd. We held our composure and played a fair match.

Round 3 was the championship round and we had 4 positions playing for the championship. Regina played Penn A in the hardest match all day. Penn's player was an outstanding competitor and Regina ended up losing 5-8. Every point was strenuous and each rally was a minimum of 5 strokes long. Nancy played Penn B and breezed by, 8-3. Lindsay played Northridge. While Lindsay tried to keep herself calm and in the game, the Northridge team and parents were much upset after the 1 Doubles match from Round 2. It was too much to overcome and Lindsay lost the set 4-8. Michelle and Molly played Penn B's team and while the match seemed an easy win at first, Penn B brought it to 7-6 before losing the final game. On the backdraw, Miriam and Katherine easily took down their competitors and won 5th place.

After a long day of tennis, winners were announced and Culver took home first place in 2nd Singles, 1 Doubles, and as an overall team. We ended the day with much deserved frozen yogurt!

Full results follow: