Girls' tennis beats Culver, winning first league match of season

The Samo girls’ tennis team won its first league match of the season on Oct. 9, beating Culver City 12-6.The common theme of the match was confidence, with Celeste Bleiberg (’15), Layla Parvis (’15) and Chloe Wight (’15) all commenting on Culver being a fairly easy team to beat. Parvis won her singles match 6-0, while Wight and Bleiberg won their doubles match 6-2.“It was nice today because most of the team actually got a chance to play, as opposed to our other matches, where starting varsity only gets to play,” Wight said. “I got to play doubles with [Bleiberg], and it was nice because the whole time we were just laughing. It was the most stress-free match I’ve ever played.”Throughout the match, both Wight and Bleiberg emphasized the importance of exhibiting sportsmanship to not only their fellow team members, but to their opponents as well.“Tennis is an aggressive sport, and sometimes, in larger competitions, things can get catty and mean,” Bleiberg said. “With Culver, I felt that all the girls were really nice, and that there was no conflict. Everyone did a really good job of keeping their nerves under control.”Even though they won their doubles match by a wide margin,  the matches did have their faults.“The low point was the two games where we were making [mistakes],” Bleiberg said. “We were still having fun but we eventually said, ‘Okay, we need to take this seriously.’ Chloe had one game where she double faulted three times. But she also had one game where they didn’t return any of [Culver’s] serves.”Since the team is comprised mostly of seniors, many girls have developed close bonds with one another. But at the same time, there are a lot of opportunities for underclassmen to improve upon their game, according to Poon. Many have taken on leadership responsibilities and have provided continual support for the team.“Even [those] that I didn’t name as captains keep everything intact,” Poon said. “They get everything done, they rally the girls and they are very inspirational to all of the younger kids.”Girls’ tennis will play Beverly Hills High School today, Oct. 23 at Samo.