The Lady Statesmen’s tennis match ended in a 9-0 victory over cross town rival Madison High School last Friday. With this win, the tennis team’s record is 6-4.
The last time the team played Madison on March 23 it won 7-2.
The team’s recent win over Madison came after an 8-1 victory against South Lakes High School.
Junior Eisha Jain won her match and, according to her, the team played hard.
“We did really well and it was really fun, we are going to keep it coming,” Jain said.
Girls tennis bounced back at the South Lakes match after their recent 2-7 and 3-6 losses to McLean High School and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, respectively.
The Highlanders currently have a 6-2 record in the district. McLean made it to the district playoffs last year and advanced to the state tournament in 2010.
Head coach Macarthur Deshazer, said prior to the McLean match that “it will be a tough [one].”
This is Deshazer’s second season coaching for Marshall and his twelfth year coaching overall. He added that the match against McLean would “be a good test for the girls.”
According to captain Patricia Garvey, senior, the match was very close, and gives Marshall hope.
“I think today shows a lot of us that we can beat McLean and that we do actually have a chance,” Garvey said.
Garvey saw what went wrong and is looking forward to the next time the two teams play each other later in the season.
“We have a much better chance of doing really well, and the second time around with teams we are going to do better,” Garvey said.
Senior Faby Chaillo was the only Statesmen to win a singles match that day.
Chaillo said she has respect for the McLean team, calling it “one of the best teams in the region. They have a lot of good players.”
Chaillo credited her win to her strategy and game mentality.
“I started to be a little smarter with my game,” Chaillo said. For her, the defensive strategy was ineffective, so “I started attacking a little more,” she said.
According to Chaillo, the key to victory is strategy.
“If we strategize correctly we could beat them even if our strokes aren’t that good,” Chaillo said. “We need to be smarter overall, as a team.”
According to captain Mili Mittal, senior, the match was another hard match for the Statesmen.
“I would say we knew going into the match that McLean was a really tough team, and we knew that we had to bring our ‘A game,’” Mittal said. “Unfortunately, we came up a little but short, but we know they are a really good team.”
The team will be playing against Fairfax High School today.