On the warm afternoon of Sept. 28, 2023, the Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech) girls’ tennis team faced off against Providence High School (Providence) on the Dragon’s home court of Ventura College. After several hours of competition and consistently strong match play from the Dragons, the team prevailed 11-7 over their competitors.
Foothill Tech came into the match after playing Cate High School (Cate) the day before and losing 13-5. Coach Richard Geib spoke on this, saying, “Last night we went up to cate and got stomped by a much stronger team and that was hard for morale … the energy was low today, not our best performance but a win is a win.”
In the singles matches Foothill Tech’s line one, Kira Branson ‘24, was only able to earn one win for the team as she lost the first two sets 0-6 and 1-6 but closed out her play 6-0. Foothill Tech’s line three player, Violet Polley ‘26, had similar success as she took one of her three sets. Polley’s sets unfolded 1-6, 1-6 and 6-0 respectively.
The Dragons most successful singles line was Saanvi Joshi ‘26 on line two who won two of her three sets at 1-6, 6-4 and 6-0. Joshi reflected on her gameplay, expressing that she “was really able to push through and stay focused.”
As opposed to singles, Foothill Tech saw much more success with their doubles. Julia Geib ’25 and Lola Tennison ‘24 held up the Dragon’s line one doubles as they earned the team a crucial three points after securing their wins 6-3, 6-2 and 6-0, respectively.
Foothill Tech’s line two doubles were also very successful with Vivian Ryan ‘25 and Aditi Shanbhag ‘25 winning all three of their sets. The team started off with a close 7-5 victory and from there fell into rhythm as they cleaned up their second and third sets 6-2 and 6-0.
When asked how the team can improve their games, Ryan commented on, “adapting to the different people we play… when you are playing various levels it is important to know how to change how you are playing.”
Line three for the Dragons consisted of Paris Nguyen ‘27 and Aarna Khanavkar ‘26 who lost their first two sets and won their third 6-4, securing Foothill Tech’s combined victory of 11-7.
Tennison reflected on the team’s performance as a whole, saying, “I think we were tired from our Cate match yesterday so it was pretty low energy but we did take a drastic win so I am proud of us.”
The Dragons next match will take place on Oct. 2, 2023, where they will hope to carry their winning momentum as they face off against Laguna Blanca in an away match.
