Early tennis balls were made of a variety of materials including leather stuffed with wool, a wool-wrapped stomach of a sheep or goat tied with rope, and putty and human hair.  Today, they are surfaced by a felt-covered rubber compound and filled with a nitrogen and oxygen mixture.  They are 2.57–2.70 inches in diameter and weigh 1.98–2.10 ounces.  In 1972, the color of the balls changed from white to “optic” yellow to show up better on television screens.  The pressure inside the ball, which controls bounciness, decreases immediately when opened and continues to go down with every shot on the court or game of fetch with a four-legged friend.

Using fresh cans of balls, the varsity girls tennis team hosted Miramonte on Tuesday.  The singles lineup was the same as it was against Las Lomas as the Line 2 player was unavailable due to injury.  The closest singles match came courtesy of Line 5 player Nicole Parlett. She raced to a 5-2 lead in the first set, but ultimately fell in straight sets. 

On the doubles side, the Line 2 team of Lilou Picard and Anna MacLeod lost in straight sets, although the first set went to a tiebreaker.  The closest match was the Line 3 team featuring sophomores Ridhi Patel and Lauren Foster, who were named the players of the match.  After losing the first set 2-6, they won the second set 7-5.  In the third set tiebreaker, all the players from both teams came onto the adjacent court to root on their teammates.  Despite overcoming a bit of confusion over the tiebreaker rules which caused them to forgo two service points, they managed to nearly pull out the victory, falling 10-7.

The team’s next match is on Tuesday (10/3) at 4pm on the road against College Park