On September 7, varsity tennis players left campus for the annual California Tennis Classic in Clovis. After a three and a half hour drive, the team arrived in sweltering 95 degree weather.
The matches began at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, with the Tigers playing Edison HS and Hart HS. Within each matchup, six games took place – three singles and three doubles. To win the game overall, a team has to win the majority of the matches. In this case, at least four. After a long day of playing in the heat, NDB finished victorious, with not a single loss under their belt.
On Saturday, the games started at 10:00 a.m. against Templeton HS and El Diamante HS. The tennis team stayed until 3:30p.m. when they finally won their last game. Maintaining their winning streak, the Tigers defeated both schools. After a calculation of all the teams’ scores, it was announced that NDB won the entire tournament for their division, making them the Division 5 California Tennis Classic Champions.
Off the court, Varsity Tennis Coach Art Soriano walked around all active matches to check on players and in between sets to give advice. On breaks, the rest of the players stood on the sidelines cheering for their fellow teammates, screaming everytime they had a successful play. This year, the players’ ultimate goal was to win the championship and, with the support from their coach and teammates, that was able to become a reality.
“So many of the players on varsity are seniors, so this was our last opportunity to win our division before we graduated. After a lot of hardwork and perseverance by the players on our team, we were able to achieve our goals and become division champions,” said Varsity Tennis Co-Captain Audrey Tang. “Personally, I wanted to win all of my matches with my doubles partner, Thayer [Ettrick ‘24], and help my team get the win.”
When the team was not playing, they chose to spend their free time exploring Clovis. Several students chose to go shopping and visited popular stores, such as Target and Sephora. However, after many hours of rigorous play, some players chose to hangout and sleep in their hotel rooms, escaping the heat.
The Clovis tournament came to a close on Saturday, September 9, with the team returning to NDB late in the evening.
