Girls Tennis Suffers a Loss Against Palisades

On Wednesday, Sept. 28, the girls tennis team lost their fourth match against Palisades Charter High School with a score of 7-11.  According to coach Wilston Poon, the girls got off to a good start in their first games, but towards the end, the team’s lack of mental strength caused their downfall.“We played pretty good. We just lost focus for a couple of matches that could’ve gone either way,” Poon said. “They just have to get mentally tougher throughout the entire match and stay tough through the match. They have potential, they just haven’t put it all together yet.”Members of the team, including Sophie Gelfand (’18) and Ana Krstic (’19), agreed that the problem was their mental focus.“I think if we were like, ‘It’s okay we can get through this’, then we would have done better,” Gelfand said. “I think it was more mental than how we actually played.”Mina Rivera (’17) feels that even though the team is still building mental capacity, they have formed a good relationship. “We’re actually really good right now,” Rivera said. “We have a good bond, and we’re kind of like family. We have a section up here that we can cheer and even when we’re doing homework we’re watching each other and supporting each other.”The team will work together to improve their focus in order to win their upcoming game against Beverly Hills High School on Oct. 6. They know that no matter how good they are, everything takes practice.“Of course we have to practice more and just practice serving and everything,” Krstic said. “Most importantly, I think practice matches and [to] just play and not get mentally attached to the game.”