The girls tennis team has won the playoffs and are titled D1 Champions!

The week of the 26st girls tennis entered the playoffs, winning all the games prior, the team was sure to win. 

The girls tennis coach, Coach Kazantsev has been working with girls tennis for about a year now. Players Aranne Jung, Ashlyn Castro, and Samantha Calvert are the girls tennis captains, they are all very hard workers and bring the team together. 

In preparation the team practiced every Tuesday and Thursday at the North Hollywood Recreation Center. The team’s coach leads the practices, usually the team would warm up and then play against each other for the remainder of the time they had. 

During practices the team applied new and old techniques. Coach Kazantsev would watch the team play and comment on what they needed to improve and what they were doing correctly. Then it would be up to the players to practice the corrections received. 

The girls tennis season is held in the fall season while pre-season is during the summer. Practice and games in the heat weren’t ideal and sometimes were even canceled due to extreme weather. Jamie, a freshman on extended varsity explained that practice done in the heat was exhausting and hard to avoid. 

Along with the heat contributing to practice, the team had to practice at local courts. The team only reserved two courts as other people in the community also wanted to play. Another freshman on the team, Analilia commented on the situation saying “As a player that’s new to playing with a team, I think it was inconvenient for not only me but for all of us.”  She further explained that the courts were not bad, but as a team it was hard to practice because only four players could be on one court. 

The girl tennis community had a lot to do with the success of the team, as a whole the team was described as “well knit” and “considerate.” The team all wanted to win and were good at communicating with each other to reach their goal. 

As a freshman on varsity, Lena, described her scenario by saying, “The experience of playing on varsity in my freshman year was different, I had already played tennis for a couple years but the team at North Hollywood was great to be involved in.” Her strong friendship with Samantha was a visual representation of a good environment. 

Getting into technicalities, the girls tennis team has many strong suits. Skill counts in tennis, footwork is a main thing to master. Moving around the court is the basis of the game; by using footwork you’re able to get to the ball in order to get it over the net. 

Girls tennis went to the playoffs with an optimistic attitude. During playoffs only the varsity team is on the lineup but the extended varsity team was able to be there to support them. 

When the playoffs started, the team felt positive and confident. Lena described the team’s win at playoffs was more than just a game, it was a title that they had to earn with hard work and discipline. She described, “Once the season ended and playoffs started we (the team) were so excited even if it meant we had to work two times as hard.”

The playoffs started and girls tennis put their best foot forward. North Hollywood was put in the second round against Carson High School winning 22 to 4.5; advancing to the next round they played against LACES and won 17.5 to 12. 

The last and most important game was against Venice High School. The Lady Huskies are statistically better than the opponent (Venice). The Lady Huskies have a 9-1 overall while Venice has 8-4 overall. Knowing this information the Lady Huskies have high chances of winning against Venice High School. 

Competing with Venice High School the Lady Huskies did not break a sweat, winning 24 to 4.5 North Hollywood celebrated a huge win. 

When the team won the playoffs, the celebration was full of excitement and was a memorable experience. Everyone of the members got individual medals and one big trophy to take back to NHHS. The girls tennis were titled D1 champions and have worked very hard for the title.