On Sept. 24, the Rancho Cucamonga High School varsity girls tennis team started its season playing their first league game against Upland High School.
Going into league, the girls already had their expectations for their season set high. According to Head Coach Mr. Daniel Moisa, from what he has seen, RCHS girls varsity tennis has made CIF for the last eight years and has made it a tradition. Working toward CIF, coach Moisa set goals for the team throughout the season.
“From the beginning of the season, from the first time we have tryouts to our first matches, then to league playoffs, I always want to see improvement, that’s our main goal. It doesn’t matter where we start but every practice and every match I want to see the team improve and work together,” said Moisa. “Although tennis is a very individual sport, at the high school level it is still a team sport, we win as a team.”
With these goals in mind, the girls started their first league game off strong.
Starting the game versus the Highlanders, in the first round, all of the starting singles players dominated their games. Playing singles one, junior Solikha Khusaniova won her set 6-1. Continuing the single’s winning streak, singles two junior Rahanna Banks won her set 6-3 games. Finally giving the singles a 3 for 3 in their first round, was singles three sophomore Khaylen Gani who scored 6-3.
In round one, the doubles had a rocky start with winning only 1 out of 3 matches but quickly picked up in the second round. Adding the doubles match won, the overall score was 4-2 matches against Upland.
The second round proved to be more successful for the team with singles winning 2-1 of their games and doubles making a comeback with 3-0 games. Winning another five matches, the Cougars bumped their score up to 9-3.
“I started as number singles and the first match was good, I won 6-1, and then the second one was okay, it was challenging but doable,” said Khusaniova
Finally getting to the third round, both singles and doubles were victorious. Both parts of the team won all of their six matches, bringing the final score to 15-3.
“The day started off pretty slow, especially for doubles, Emily and I were the only duo to get a win in the first round which was not great for morale but after that in the second and third rounds, we got all the wins. It was a good day overall,” said senior Vinessa Goh.
The girls varsity tennis team pushed through in their match against Upland and wants to continue their winning streak throughout the season. Keeping a positive attitude while playing was one of the ways they succeeded.
“Stay positive always, even when we are losing, stay positive because there is always hope to win. Keep working hard, if it doesn’t win the first time it will work out eventually,” said Khusaniova.
