On the afternoon of Oct. 15, 2024, the Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech) girls tennis team went up against The Thacher School (Thacher) on their annual Senior Night. The match took place at Ventura College, on Foothill Tech’s home courts, and ended with an unfortunate loss for the Dragons with a score of 7-11.
Opening up the match, Foothill Tech’s line one singles player was Saanvi Joshi ‘26, who fought with intensity but ended her match with only one win. Joshi’s individual scores were 4-6, 6-3, and 2-6, respectively. Jaylene Aguirre ‘28 represented the Dragons on line two, and won two of her matches with scores of 6-4 and 6-0, however, dropped one of her lines 4-6.
Rounding out the singles category was Aditi Shanbhag ‘25 on line three. Throughout her first match the competition was tense, each point an exchange of intense rallying and every game finishing at sudden death. Despite this close battle, Shanbhag dropped her first set 2-6, and went on to lose the next two sets 2-6, 0-6.
In the doubles category, Julia Geib ‘25 and Vivian Ryan ‘25 played their last game as seniors together. Using teamwork and communication throughout the game they swept away the competition. The on and off court chemistry between Ryan and Geib was obvious with these wins, and Ryan spoke on how they’ve been, “best friends for years” and have, “known each other since they were five.” The duo won their first two games with a score of 6-0, and in their last matchup took a win 6-4.
As for line two doubles, Ryan Alderman ‘25 and Violet Polley ‘26 battled fiercely, but unfortunately they ended their matches with scores of 1-6, 2-6, and 3-6, respectively. To round out the matchup, Dragons line three doubles Rhea Gill ‘25 and Bari Davis ‘28 lost 3-6 and 0-6 in their first and final matches. However, in their second match the duo fought a neck-in-neck game with Thacher with each game closer than the next, until the two teams were tied at 6-6. Gill and Davis went on to play a tense tiebreaker, squeaking by with an 8-6 win and earning a curcial point towars the Dragon´s overall score
Foothill Technology finished their season with a score of 7-11, however, they were able to have fun and spend time with their seniors on the courts even with the loss. Gill commented on her feelings regarding the end of the season, saying “As a senior and this being my last game, I do feel sad, but I’ve had such a great season with all of the girls. It’s really been great.”