Welcome to Homecoming Weekend! On Thursday, the Girls Varsity Tennis team hosted the team that starts with a “C” from Moraga. Not only had the Cougars played way more matches than the Dons in this young season, but they also came into the contest sporting an impressive 14-2 record, with most of the wins coming in blowout fashion.

Despite the challenge, the Dons fought valiantly. On the singles side, the lineup was the same as Tuesday. Aamena Shipchandler played #1 singles and played a strong match, ultimately falling 6-3, 6-4. Emily Roberts lost her first match of the season in a very tightly contested match, losing the first set 6-4, winning the second 6-2, and falling 12-10 in the tiebreaker. Kate Widmann had a difficult first set, but almost took the second set before it ended 7-5.

The Line 1 doubles team of Lauren Foster and Ridhi Patel were the lone winners for the Dons on the day, losing the first set 6-3 before coming back to win the second set 6-2 and tiebreaker 10-5. They were named players of the match.

The undefeated Line 2 doubles team of Riley Zirkel and Grace Britto also lost their first match of the season in heartbreak fashion. After winning the first set 6-3, the lost the second set 6-2 and tiebreaker 10-8. The new Line 3 doubles team of Sadie Moise and Molly Jones also weren’t able to pull out a victory.

Get to know coach: Coach Langtry was a swimmer and cheerleader at Moreau Catholic High School and also worked as a lifeguard.

In case it wasn’t obvious, a huge shout out to Jackie Zirkel for taking these great pictures. Slightly better than the ones I take on my old iPhone. Thank you Jackie! Also, my apologies for not making this article any longer or more creative…my battery is about to die, and I want to go watch the Varsity Football team take on College Park for Homecoming. Go Dons!

The girls hit the road to take on Las Lomas on Tuesday, September 24th at 4pm