Coach: Chris Ghareebo (head coach)
Top Returning Players: Daniela Borruel (11), Amy Roh (11), Hannah Saab (11), Karina Saab (11), Lauren Sung (12)
Top Newcomers: Maya Orton (9), Kate Yoon (9)
Last Season: The girls tennis team finished with an 8-2 Freeway League record, losing both matches to rival Troy High School and preventing the squad from repeating as league champions. The Lady Lancers (11-4) were knocked out of the CIF Division 2 quarterfinals by Los Alamitos High School.
“We lost two tiebreakers to Troy [last season], so this year we’re really focusing on finishing [matches] because it’s just a few rallies that didn’t go our way,” Ghareebo said.
Outlook: The Lady Lancers look to return to form from two years ago when they captured the Freeway League title for the first time since 1996.
“Our first goal is definitely to win the [Freeway] League and to make a deep run in CIF,” Ghareebo said. “Those are definitely our big goals.”
The coach will once again look to junior and co-captain Borruel to help lead the way like she did two years ago.
Then a freshman, she finished with an unblemished 30-0 Freeway League record and ended the season getting recognized by the Orange County Register as the Orange County Player of the Year after taking the CIF singles title in her division.
“I sometimes look [to] my past achievements to bring back confidence and learning experiences for what I am doing in the moment,” said Borruel, ranked as a blue chip recruit by Tennis Recruiting Network. “I focus on staying in the present and trying to improve as much as I can, on and off the court, [leading] to the improvement of [my] physical and mental abilities on the court.”
Co-captain Sung said she feels confident going into her final year and hopes to put the last season behind her to focus on winning again.
“When I was a sophomore and my coach said we could win, I was really doubtful; but, we did win the [Freeway] League,” she said. “So now I think I have a lot more trust in him, and he said we have a good shot of winning again, so I’m pretty optimistic.”
Her optimism can also be attributed to the addition of two freshmen.
“We have a lot of new freshmen that are really good like Maya Orton and Kate Yoon,” Sung said. “[Ghareebo] has been making us train a lot harder [by] making us run laps around the court so that we practice playing on tired legs.”
While Orton may be new to the team, she joins the Lady Lancers with five years of tennis experience under her belt. Like her coach and teammates, the freshman has set ambitious goals for herself and the team this season.
“I hope to play good singles and win the majority of my matches,” she said. “And as a team, I hope for us to win CIF and league finals.”
Yoon, a fellow newcomer, is feeling the pressure of being on varsity as a freshman, only having played tennis for a year.
“I’m feeling worried [about this season], but also excited at the same time because I have never experienced anything like this before,” she said. “I’ve never played in any tournaments before [joining] this team.”
While Troy High School remains on the Lady Lancers’ radar, the players are curious to see how a fresh opponent performs during the season.
“I’m looking forward to going up against Sonora because they haven’t had a lot of good tennis players go to their school [in the past],” Sung said. “Recently, they got a lot of good freshmen, and I’m just really interested to see how their team has developed.”
The senior said she is also eager to become a role model for the underclassmen.
“When I was a sophomore on the team, we had like 20 seniors who were about to graduate, and they were like big sisters to me, navigating me through not just tennis, but also high school,” Sung said. “They had a lot of good advice, and I’m really looking forward to being that person for the younger class.”
The Lady Lancers (5-1) kick off Freeway League play with a home match on Tuesday, Sept. 19, at 3 p.m. on the Sunny Hills tennis court against the Sonora High School Raiders.
