by Jesilyn Ferrer, Staffwriter
Devils’ Advocate
Tennis is a very rigorous sport. It involves being both mentally and physically prepared. With all the running that is within this sport, harsh conditioning is required for the readiness of each game. Pertaining to the weather, these ladies play in 80 or 90°F, which has them sweating buckets out on the courts. Yet these girls will still run as fast as they can to chase the ball and get it over to the other side. To be mentally prepared for tennis, it’s all about playing smart. Whether you decide to hit it short, go in for a deep shot, slice the ball, or smash that ball onto the court, the most important thing would have to be going in with a confident mentality. You can’t let the loss of one point dictate the rest of your game. Like Coach Hernandez says, “If you are already going to go in with a mentality that you’re going to lose, I’d rather you forfeit the game.” The point of this is that if you already think you’re going to lose, you give yourself no chance to even win.
As of today, these ladies have had their first couple of victories over Southwest and Mar Vista High School. Each team puts up a fight, endlessly waiting for each and every teammate to get out on the court, eager to know every score. The final scores ended up being 10-8, only winning by one game. With more games to come, Coach Hernandez will use the best of his abilities to work these girls into shape. There is still lots of work to be done when it comes to training these ladies. Now, with about thirty ladies officially
on the team, more than there has been in years, Coach Hernandez finds the best way to drill every single one. He even gets help from some of the men from the Men’s Tennis team who volunteer as managers for our ladies.
Here’s the 2015 line-up:
For singles:
#1 Gladdis Barajas
#2 Jesilyn Renei Ferrer
#3 Jasmine Duran
For doubles:
#1 Krismay Morena and Maricar Gonzales
#2 Elizabeth Meneses and Rosa Lopez
#3 Domonique Tuason and Jazztianne Madriaga
For alternates:
Marianne Ople
Natalie Baeza
Melissa Godinez
Rosalinda Jimenez Fortanel
Patricia Valencia
The games are scheduled for Tuesday and Thursday at 3 pm. In the South Bay League, we play every school twice. So even though a team may have lost the first time, they still have a few more weeks until they play the same school again. Each school always comes back better the second time around. So, these Lady Devils have to keep working hard and keep their heads in the game.