Rackets were brandished on the afternoon of Oct. 3, 2024, and the first serves ensued between the Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech) girls tennis team and Villanova Preparatory School (Villanova) on the Dragons’ home court of Ventura College.
The match was marked by fierce competition as the score stayed relatively even, set by set. After several hours of back and forth play, the match ended with a final score of 9-9 in sets. In order to determine a winner, the individual games that comprised each set were tallied. After a tense silence during the count, Villanova emerged on top, edging out Foothill Tech by one game.
Foothill Tech’s line one singles player Saanvi Joshi ‘26 started strong in her first set, defeating her opponent 6-3. Joshi did not see the same success on her next two sets as she ended with scores of 2-6 and 6-7, respectively.
On line two, Foothill Tech’s Jaylene Aguirre ‘28, took down her first and third opponent 6-3 and 6-2, respectively.
Aditi Shanbhag ‘25, who played line three, was unable to find a chink in her opponents’ armor as she ended with scores of 2-6, 3-6 and 2-6.
The Dragons found more success on the doubles side, as Foothill Tech’s line one duo of Julia Geib ‘25 and Vivian Ryan ‘25 took down each of their opponents with scores of 6-1, 6-3 and 6-1.
Ryan spoke on her and Geib’s performance, “I think we played great together … we’ve won almost every single one of our matches this year … but when it comes down to games where you lose by one, you’re thinking about what you could do to get that extra point.”
Violet Polley ‘26 and Ryan Alderman ‘25 represented the Dragons on line two doubles, taking a loss on their first and second sets but were able to recuperate and take the last set 6-1.
Foothill Tech’s line three duo, Rhea Gill ‘25 and Bari Davis ‘28, lost their last set, but defeated their first two opponents, 6-2 and 7-6.
After strong efforts on both sides, the match ended in a tie of 9-9. After each game was tallied, Villanova ended up taking home the win, beating Foothill Tech by one game with a score of 78-79.
Alderman spoke on the team’s collective performance, stating, “I’m so proud of our team … we tried our best, did what we could, so you got to hope for better next time.”
The Foothill Tech girls tennis team looks to bounce back from this loss on Oct. 8, 2024, where they will be facing off against Cate School (Cate) on Cate’s home courts.
