Cameron Richter
Graham Lipps
Staff Writers
The Mira Costa Girls Tennis team did not know what to expect from Los Alamitos coming into their first meeting of the season. They played very well and went on to win the match taking 11 of the 18 total games. This improves their record to 4-0 on the season.
Sophomore Amy Gaal led the singles division taking all three of her games and the doubles combination of sophomore twins Isabella Draskovic and Katarina Draskovic also managed to win all three of their games. Senior Taylor Klein and Freshman Isabelle Lau, both singles players, also won two of their three games.
“I’m very proud of myself as I was down 3-0 and I came back,” Lau said, “and in the last game, I was down 5-4 and hit a very close serve that helped us secure the victory.”
Sophomore Amy Gaal, Costa’s number one singles player, managed to win all three of her games. She won her first 6-1, her second 6-3, and the final match 6-4.
“I was really proud of my teammates for going out and giving every game their all,” junior Hanna Watkins said, “Los Alamitos is a great team, and winning today is a promising start for girls tennis this season. I’m very excited for our upcoming matches. ”
Senior Taylor Klein was victorious in two of her three matches with scores of 6-4 and 6-3. However, she lost one of her matches 2-6.
“At the end of the second set, my back started to hurt because of an old injury,” Klein said. “But I’m glad I pushed through and won my third match. If I had not played, I would have regretted it.”
Freshman Isabelle Lau also won two of her three games with a 6-4 score in both games. These victories gave the Costa team wins in seven of their nine total singles games.
“It’s not really intimidating starting for varsity,” Lau said, “It gives me a chance to play better players than I would play if I was on JV.”
Isabella and Katarina Draskovic started the doubles matches off strong. The Draskovic duo won all three of their matches and helped contribute to the Mustangs victory.
“After yesterday I am much more optimistic. I think we have a really good chance against Pv on Thursday,” Coach Ciasulli said, “If the girls play as well as they did yesterday.”
Sophomore Madi Giese and Senior Mai Nojima won one of three matches. Giese and Nojima started off strong winning 6-2 but lost the next two in close battles.
“It was the best match we’ve played all year so far,” coach Joe Ciasulli, “the girls really stepped up.”
Senior Dana Sternhal and Watkins struggled with the Los Alamitos attack, losing three matches.
They are bouncing back and looking forward to their next match.
“Even though we did not win any of our matches, I still feel that my partner and I played really well against such a competitive team.” Watkins said.
In Costa’s next match, the team will play their first Bay League opponent Palos Verdes at home on Thursday.
“I’m definitely excited to play our first Bay League match because it will give us a chance to play in more competitive matches,” said Lau.
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