Coach: Christopher Ghareebo (head coach)
Top Returning Players: Daniela Borruel (12), Maya Orton (10)
Top Newcomers: Sydney Odipo (9), Vannia Pacheco (9), Ella Ward (9)
Last Season: The Lady Lancers (14-2 overall, 9-1 in the league) won the Freeway League title for the second straight year. Singles No. 1 senior Borruel also managed to win CIF Individuals for the second time – first as a freshman and last year as a junior, meaning she’s the best high school singles tennis player in Southern California.
Outlook: The girls tennis team hopes to strengthen its skills on the court so the Lady Lancers can repeat as champions in the league and hopefully make a deep run in CIF.
“I’m expecting us to play high-level tennis,” Ghareebo said. “As long as we’re playing our best tennis, I like our chances.”
Borruel, a fixed-time CIF girl tennis individual champion who’s currently ranked No. 16 nationally, according to tennisrecruiting.net, said she expects her last season to be filled with joy and triumphs.
“I hope to have a very good season with a lot of fight and competition, so it’ll definitely be a fun year,” she said. “I hope to win this year’s league and really put in a team effort for everybody to be included.”
Similar to Borruel’s goals, singles No. 3 Pacheco said she’s looking forward to making an impact for the Lady Lancers.
“As a newcomer, I feel very welcome to the team, and I’m prepared to start the season off on a good note,” the freshman said. “My personal expectation for our team is to win against other schools; we’ve been training really hard to reach this goal [so] I expect to have a great year.”
Borruel, who is also a co-captain with Orton, said she also plans to work on other aspects of the game with her teammates.
“This year, I want to emphasize team bonding and everyone pumping each other up throughout the games,” she said. “I feel like this team is super great; we have a lot of experience on the team and a lot of new talents, so it’ll definitely be fun working together.”
Because the CIF Southern Section revamped all sports teams in Orange County this season, the Lady Lancers remain in the Freeway League but with different opponents from the past, though Troy will remain as one.
Nevertheless, such a change will not affect the head coach’s approach this season.
“I welcome a new challenge and new teams we will be playing; every team is good in our league, so we need to be ready every match to play our best,” Ghareebo said. “I believe the team has talent everywhere, and we’re young and hungry to win, but sometimes, we have a tendency to make a few too many unforced errors.”
Ghareebo also said the team attended their annual summer camp to practice their tennis skills and condition.
“Hosting the summer camp is always a great time because it’s an amazing opportunity to get to know new players and bond while practicing our tennis skills,” Ghareebo said. “The new girls can also see our culture and befriend the JV and Varsity players.”
Similarly, Singles No. 2 sophomore Maya Orton mentioned the additional benefits of attending the tennis camp.
“I think it’s very worth it to attend our summer camp, especially the incoming freshman, because it’s very useful to see what our team is like before tryouts,” Orton said. “Returning players can also practice to get ready for the season and to reconnect with the team since it’s been a very long time since our last game, which was in the fall.”
One traditional opponent the Lady Lancers are looking forward to facing will be Troy.
“We hope to beat Troy by playing well and limiting errors,” Ghareebo said. “Of course, we will also be putting our best effort forward.”
The Lady Lancers will go on the road to play their first league match against the El Dorado Golden Hawks in Placentia on Tuesday, Sept. 24 at 3 p.m.
