Mingus Union High School girls tennis coach Andrea Meyer knew heading into her team’s matches against Marcos de Niza High School and Notre Dame Preparatory High School that it would be challenged.
The Marauders [4-2, 0-1] dropped both matches, 5-4 and 9-0, respectively, but Meyer is not disappointed with their performances in the slightest.
“We knew we were entering a tough part of our schedule where we would be tested,” Meyer said. “So going into the Marcos de Niza match I expected it to be the first valid test of how strong our team was.”
Against the Padres on March 21, Mingus went up 2-0 after taking two of the doubles matches. The No. 1 pairing of juniors Talon Whiteley and Emma Williams won 8-4 and the No. 2 duo of senior Phoebe Chilton and junior Pei-Wen Yang won 8-6.
Williams, the No. 2 player in the Marauders ladder, won her singles match 6-1, 7-5 and 10-8 in a tiebreaker. Meyer commended her perseverance after taking the heavy first set loss.
“It’s a hard loss to take, it’s bruising to your ego to lose the first set 6-1, but she’s such a fighter and so persistent,” Meyer said.
Whiteley, No. 1 and undefeated entering the match, lost 6-3, 6-1 as did Chilton 6-1, 6-2, senior Maya Federbush 6-4, 7-5 and junior Chelsea Clark 6-4, 6-2.
Yang was the other singles player to pick up a victory at the No. 4 spot, 6-2, 7-5. In the second set she was down 4-1 before mounting a comeback.
“Her [Yang’s] mind goes on lockdown, she just refuses to lose.” Meyer said.
The match against Notre Dame Prep on March 22 marked the first of the season in Division II Section II play. The Saints make up a perennially strong unit; they have dropped eight of 81 matches all season.
While the score reads 9-0, the No. 1 Marauders doubles pair lost just 8-6 and almost forced a tiebreaker.
“They blank most schools 9-0, so the fact that we almost got a match against them shows a lot about the drive of the team going into the match,” Meyer said.
Knowing the strength of their opponent, Meyer added that she took a different approach to coaching her players for the match. She asked them to think about what personal goal they wanted to achieve on their side of the net, such as controlling serve or moving their feet better.
Whiteley lost 6-3, 6-4 in a match in which Meyer said she put a lot of thought into, while Williams lost 6-2, 6-0, but did not get run over like the score appears to reveal.
“She fought for every point, she moved that girl side to side, there were 12, 13, 14 balls per point,” Meyer said. “It was a really incredible thing against a girl that strong.”
Clark, No. 5 against the Saints, lost 6-3, 6-0, but has improved in her footwork and positioning on the court. Chilton and Yang lost 8-3 in their doubles match, but held long rallies against Notre Dame Prep’s No. 2 pairing.
“I can’t say enough about the girls and their attitude,” Meyer said. “The scoresheet doesn’t say how the kids are building perseverance so I’m very happy with the team.”
