The girls’ varsity tennis team ended its season ranked second in Academy League and tenth in CIF, making it one round further into CIF than its rival, St. Margaret’s Episcopal School, a goal the girls had all season. Led by senior captains Abigail Ruck, Tess Alexander, Amira Tarsadia, and junior captain Celine Wang, the team was a force to be reckoned in CIF, exceeding its own expectations as well.

In their second to last match, the team dominated in doubles and defeated Santa Monica High School, seeded sixth in CIF, 10-8, on Nov. 7. Ruck and Tarsadia swept their three matches, and Alexander, Wang, junior Marina Anderson, freshman Maya Byrd and sophomore Crystal Yu all won two out of their three doubles matches, bringing in a win for the Lightning.

“That was pretty amazing because we weren’t expecting to make it as far as we did, and it definitely showed our work in the season paid off. It was really great,” Ruck said.

The seniors carried the team to the quarterfinals, where they lost to Murrieta Valley High School, ranked second in CIF, but Ruck is proud of what the team accomplished this season.

“[This season] was great, especially being a senior captain. It was a great season to end on and we really were able to hold our own on the team, and I think all the seniors are pretty proud of the work that we did. We were just pretty happy to just be out there playing and making it as far as we did,” Ruck said.

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Kate Kim

The team, comprised of many talented freshmen and sophomores, is confident it will continue to be strong next year, even with many seniors graduating this year.

“I really hope the team can make it even further than we did this year. We definitely have a young team, so I think we’re going to get a lot better as some of the freshmen and sophomores get older and more experienced,” Ruck said.

Dave Siegmund