Coaches: Christopher Ghareebo, Minhoh Han (JV coach)
Top Returning Players: Natalija Glavy (10), Emily Kim (12), Carolyn Tran (10)
Outlook: After guiding the girls tennis team for two years, Madeline Heer moved on this season to take an assistant tennis coaching position at Biola University. Boys tennis head coach, Christopher Ghareebo, has taken over with new math teacher Minhoh Han as the head Junior Varsity coach.
As in past years, the Lady Lancers will work to reach their goal of dethroning rival Troy High School Warriors for the Freeway League title.
“[Troy] is always our rival,” Ghareebo said. “It’s always between us two for the league [title] so our goal this year is to beat Troy [because] beating them means that we’re probably going to win league.”
No. 1 singles player sophomore Carolyn Tran said she and her teammates must make mental adjustments to defeat the Warriors and come away with the league title.
“I think the team’s weakness is having no motivation,” Tran said. “I also want to work on not getting so mad at myself. If we can improve these, then we will be much more successful.”
Senior Emily Kim, another top singles player, also noted the challenge of adjusting to another new coach.
“We’ve had four different coaches [with] coach Ghareebo being the fourth,” Kim said. “Having coaches come and go so frequently has definitely been very hard and frustrating at times, but that’s just how it is.”
But Ghareebo is optimistic about the season.
“All the hard work during the off-season will pay off,” he said. “Let’s go win [the league title]!”