By: Michaela Thimot & Macy Dennon

People and Local Editor

The Los Gatos High School Girls’ Tennis team has had an accomplished season so far. Since last reported on, the team played matches against Gunn, Santa Clara, and Wilcox, putting up a great fight in all their encounters.

On Sept. 21 at Gunn High School, the team played admirably, winning their games and ultimately the entire match. Kayla Mitchell, Yasmina Ikkawi, Valeriya Marinicheva, and Zoe Swanson played singles matches. The doubles pairs consisted of Alex Varivoda with Nitya Jhamb, Yilin Fang with Maya Swanson, and Eesha Chugh with Kaley Do. Head coach Sam Lee stated that this was a, “Great win and amazing job from everyone. Even though Gunn is a strong team in the De Anza league, we came out on top. Especially kudos to Zoe who was down 4-6, 2-4 and then came roaring back with a phenomenal win [4-6, 7-5, 10-4]! Also, great job to Kaley [and] Eesha who didn’t give up after losing the first set and rebounded to win the match.” Coach Lee expressed his excitement for the coming games, saying, “Hopefully we will have more opportunities to brush up our skills for [our] matchups [against Fremont and Santa Clara].”

During their Santa Clara and Lynbrook matches, the team came out on top against the former, but lost to the latter. Despite their disappointment at the results of the Lynbrook match, the team still anticipates ranking high in league this year. Their cumulative wins and trajectory currently sets them up from a potential top two spot. 

Ranked high at the number two singles spot as just a sophomore, Ikkawi has been having a remarkable season so far. Winning nearly all of her singles matches, Ikkawi explained, “[I’m] really excited to be playing on a team, and I’m a little bit nervous sometimes when playing good teams, but I’m usually pretty confident before I play.” Her favorite match was a non-league game against Menlo because the entire Los Gatos team had endless amounts of energy and were constantly cheering each other on. 

Another standout player on the team is freshman Mitchell playing number one singles, even as one of the youngest players on the team. Throughout the season, Mitchell has impressed everyone with her stellar play. Both of the young players are hoping to play Division 1 tennis in college. 

The Girls’ Tennis team’s Central Coast Section playoffs start in the beginning of November, so make sure to cheer them on as they play their matches. You can also keep an eye out for their team sweatshirts and smiling faces as they move on to yet another victory against Los Altos on Oct. 24.