After the end of season party that the Widmanns graciously hosted at their beautiful home on Sunday, the Varsity Girls Tennis team traveled to Northgate High School on Tuesday for the Diablo Athletic League (DAL) Division Championship tournament. Just like last year, 16 girls participated, two in singles and 14 in doubles (7 teams). Prior to the matches, Aamena Shipchandler was named second team singles in DAL, Emily Roberts received honorable mention in singles, and Grace Britto and Riley Zirkel were named second team in doubles. Congratulations!
On the singles side, Kate Widmann ended her high school tennis career with a hard fought match against Miramonte, falling 8-3 in the first round. Molly Jones also lost in the first round against Campo.
Most of the girls who normally played singles during the season paired up to play doubles. Two of the teams were seeded, including Aamena and Piper Duff seeded #4, and Emily and Grace Colaco seeded #8. Aamena and Piper cruised to an 8-0 victory in the first round against College Park before falling in the second round against Miramonte.
Emily and Grace also cruised to a 8-0 victory in the first round against Northgate. In the second round, they played fellow teammates, seniors Jadith Labonge and Hanna Wisniewska, who won their first round match against College Park 8-6. The girls had a lot of fun in that match, which was ultimately won by Emily and Grace. In the third round, Emily and Grace found themselves playing the #1 overall doubles seed in the tournament, which was a pairing of top two singles players from Miramonte. Although they lost, they fought hard and had some really entertaining rallies.
Ridhi Patel and Lauren Foster won in the first round 8-5 against College Park before falling in a tightly contested second round match 8-6 against Campo. Senior Sienna Moise and her Freshman sister Sadie Moise teamed up one last time, ultimately falling in the first round against the #7 seed from Campo. Hetty Lofting and Riley Zirkel lost in the first round against #5 seed Miramonte, and Grace Britto and Tatum McElhatten fell 8-4 in the first round against Northgate.
It was great to see the wins, and also great to see several seniors playing together for the last time. After going 2-10 last year, the team improved to 6-8 this year. The girls showed tremendous effort throughout the season, fighting hard in every match and winning many individual matches. They also improved throughout the season under the leadership of Coaches Langtry, Schottland, and Duff. Coach Langtry’s goals for the season were to get more wins, have everyone improve their tennis skills, and have a positive experience. The team clearly achieved these goals, and although the team will miss the 5 seniors graduating, many of the players will be returning next year which should set up the program for future success in the years to come. Go Dons!