On Tuesday, March 12 at Thomas Jefferson High School, Jefferson’s girls tennis team lost their last scrimmage of the season against Oakton’s Cougars with a final score of 2-7.
This scrimmage was out of the ordinary compared to previous scrimmages for Jefferson. Jefferson’s number one player was absent, requiring every other player to play against opponents with higher rankings within their team.
“We didn’t have our number one, so everybody had to play up a spot. I’m two, so I had to play the number one on their team, and our three had to play their two,” sophomore Karis Kim said. “I feel like if we had our [number] one, we could have had a better chance.”
Some players had complaints about the weather, altering their playing experience. The wind was especially strong during the game, making the conditions harder to work with as it tempered control with the ball. Additionally, the sun was shining and threw off some serves.
“I noticed there was a lot of sun, on one particular side of the court. So I kept in mind when I was serving, so that the sun didn’t catch me in the eye. As I predicted, I had more trouble serving on the side with the sun,” junior Katya Pribam said.
The game went by much slower, since one court wasn’t available because of prior weather. Coming into the game, Jefferson players expected to have some competition going up against Oakton.
“Oakton is my base, so I know a few people on the team, and I know they’re really good,” senior Mahiyah Muthukumaran said. “It’s not the same as playing within our district. They’re really good and multi-time state champs.”
Jefferson girls won one out of six singles matches. Junior Katya Pribam won her singles match 8-0.
“My serves improved towards the end of the game. I wasn’t making all my serves in the last game, [and I’m] pretty proud of that. I feel like I could have improved on going for my shots.” Pribam said.
Overall, this scrimmage served as a challenge for both teams. Despite the challenges, a better mindset going into the scrimmage could have contributed to Jefferson’s success.
“[We could have] had the right mindset. If we thought we were going to lose, we should [have] still tried to win anyways, even if the odds were against us,” Kim said.
