9/18/13
PROMISE: Hopes run high as Poly girls’ tennis team begins its season.
By Jared Kanouse, Staff Writer
After placing second in last year’s Inland Valley League and achieving a berth into the semi-final round of the CIF playoffs, girls’ tennis became one of the more successful teams at Poly. However, with the Varsity team losing multiple important members of last year’s winning team, chances for future success seem to be in jeopardy.
“The team was good last year but this year it’s taken an even bigger leap forward,” team captain Catherine Mooney (12) said. “We had a lot of good freshmen come in that are making up a lot of our starting line-up.” Coach Richard Moore also brought up a similar point: “We’ve got a very balanced team. It’s not just seniors we’ve got freshmen starting for us that are as good as anybody on our team.” And therein lies the key to their successful season: a strong group of freshmen players that includes Dani Baum (9), Laney Baum (9), Madison Loeb (9), and Dyana Harb (9).
These freshmen girls, along with the incumbent members, plan to take this team further than any Poly team has previously gone. “Our Varsity team has a lot of depth,” team captain Marki Cardenas (12) said. “There’s a lot of really good girls.”
With the amount of talent and the number of new players on Varsity this year, an aura of excitement surrounds the girls as they begin their matches against league opponents. When asked about her hopes for the season, Mooney answered: “CIF champs, League champs.”
In the end, only time will tell how this team ends up. However, one thing is for sure: with the level of talent present on the team, girls’ tennis shows great promise in the upcoming season.