The Division II Coronado High School Girls Tennis Team began league play with a tightly contested 10-8 victory over Mira Mesa High School at home on Tuesday. All twelve players played. The win is especially impressive considering the team is starting over this year.

Only three players from last year’s varsity team are returning, and two are injured and unlikely to play at all this season. That leaves only one varsity player, Elegance Elardoavailable for games on the field. Most teams would call this a “rebuilding” year, but coaches and players are confident in their chances for a winning season.

What many on the team lack in tennis experience, they make up for with athleticism, commitment and teamwork. “I’ve never had a more positive group,” coach Dennis Navarro said.

“We have a solid team,” he said. Carlotta Peralta“They want to be here. They want to support each other. We have a chance to be really competitive this year.”

Because the team needed players, three returning varsity players and former junior varsity players worked hard to recruit athletes who had rarely picked up a racquet but had a strong work ethic, a commitment to learning and success in another sport.

As a result of the team’s recruitment efforts, the team now includes eight lacrosse players and one softball player. Both lacrosse and softball are complementary sports to tennis. To be successful, all three sports require exceptional eye-hand coordination, the ability to predict where a ball or player is going, and speed. Newer tennis players who are already accomplished lacrosse and softball players have a leg up on others learning the sport because they already have many of the transition skills needed for tennis. Their background also bodes well for players’ development throughout the season.

“They all have killer instincts from other sports, they want to improve and it’s been a pleasure working with them,” said volunteer assistant coach Beth Elardo.

Match Against Mira Mesa

Elegance Elardo won all three of their singles matches 6-4, 6-3, 6-1, and the doubles team Lilah Cade And Logan Shapiro He also put in a strong performance by winning all three of his matches 6-3, 6-4, 6-1. Samantha Aldworth and Brynn Ait won the two sets convincingly 6-2, 6-0. Josephine Zwierzynski won sets in doubles with different partners: Casilda Sanchez And Daniela Ossio, 6-4, 6-4.

The young team, consisting of three seniors, three juniors, seven sophomores and two freshmen, is led by four team captains: senior Carlotta Peraltayouth Maria Anaya And Elegance Elardoand sophomore Lilah Cade.

Rounding out the team are the following players: Rio Kramer, Ella Petersen, Ines Gil, Abbie McKissickAnd Alyssa McWilliams.

September Program

*Matches start at 4:00 PM, but games at Granite Hills start at 3:30 PM.

High School Tennis Format

High school tennis matches consist of 18 sets of unscored scores: 9 sets of singles and 9 sets of doubles. Three singles players on each team play three singles players on the other team. Similarly, three doubles teams play the opposing doubles teams.

Using this approach, where each singles player competes against three of the opponent’s singles players (and each doubles pair competes against three of the opponent’s doubles pairs), prevents teams from using a strategy called “stacking”, in which a team puts a lower-ranked player in the number one position in order to save stronger players for the remaining positions, thus increasing the probability of winning in those remaining positions. Since each player plays every other player, stacking is not possible.