The 2024-2025 SBHS girls tennis played their final matches this past week and are now getting ready for CIF Playoffs. As the regular season has come to a close, here’s a recap of their thoughts on the year including big wins against long time rivals San Marcos and Dos Pueblos. 

In an interview with Coach Daniel Echt, who has headed up the program at SBHS for over ten years, he got into how he feels the season has gone. His favorite game has been, “The first game against Dos Pueblos, we lost but it was so close…every game counted. The girls had a very bad start in that match and it was needed to see how they recovered, gave it their all, and it was pretty painful…That one sticks out because of how tight it was.”  

A memorable match was, “probably watching Nicole Buist play in that first DP match, she had three tough sets and she really kept her composure in those stressful moments.” A match Echt was excited for was San Marcos as the Dons had a close win over the Royals the first time around with a score of 10-8. “It’s exciting to see how the girls have improved since then,” he shared. Every team has something special about them, and Coach Echt believes, “This is the closest team I’ve coached in terms of how they support each other, and the constant noise and yelling for each other. You can never tell whether this team is winning or losing, and that’s my favorite moment is watching them support each other.” This year, the squad has a lot more seniors compared to years past. “Having more seniors, I think the leadership is a little more organized and a very close unit. Last year was a great year, but we have a lot more familiar faces this year so we have more experienced players than we did before. The seniors are really putting in the work taking the bulls by the horn and making every practice count,” Echt said. A great team should always find ways to improve, and Echt said, “If they could play more complete matches from start to finish I think it would help us a lot.”

Something that went well for the team’s number one singles player Nicole Buist is “Consistency. This time I was more in control of my match, staying patient.” After her second game against San Marcos, Buist felt, “a lot more prepared, and a lot more calm in a way and knew what I had to do out there and try to play my best.” Kate Hashbarger and Lucy Kronberg are both sophomores who were on junior varsity last year, but are now on varsity. After their doubles win against San Marcos for the second time, they shared their input regarding their games. ”Something that went really well for the both of us was our communication at some points, staying and thinking positive, and just relying on each other when needed.”  Something that needed improvement from their games was, “working on our communication during pivotal points in the match, and I found myself stressed so remaining calm and sticking to our game,” Hashbarger shared.

In an interview with Co-captain Caitlyn Buist, she explains how her game went against San Marcos the second time around. “I think I played really well today and I think the team had really great energy, and I feel like that fueled how I played today too. Playing singles for the first time in a long time felt great against San Marcos pulling through for a win.”  A memorable moment this season was, “Against San Marcos because we really put in the work and it brought things full circle from freshman year when we beat them…Match-wise was when I played doubles with fellow senior Emma Hine, we swept all of our matches 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 (against Dos Pueblos) and so we felt really proud of ourselves.” In an interview with Co-captain Mary Moses, she reflected on her game against San Marcos by saying, “we played really well last time. It was close at 10-8 but with the team dynamic and lineup shifting a lot we came into the game with a lot of nerves, but I’m really proud of the way we played and grabbing the win.” Something Moses has seen improve since last year is “the team camaraderie is really high, motivating each other all across the court which has been a great help.” 

The girls tennis team beat Dos Pueblos 10-8 for the Dons’ senior night, allowing them to hand the Chargers their first loss of the season and  to swoop in and become Co-Champions of Channel League. In an interview with senior Ella Weathers who plays doubles with Juliana Aviani, she explained how they were able to win all three of their sets against Dos Pueblos.  “I feel like my performance could have been better, but I’m still happy with how I played and especially how all the doubles including my partner played, and I was just happy to be there and had a lot of fun today.” What it means to her beating local hometown rivals is, “It’s always fun to beat another school but it’s also fun to do better than you did last time since we tied last time. So it’s nice that we were able to do better.”

After a successful league season for the girls, they now gear up for CIF playoffs. 

Make sure to show up and support your fellow Dons!  

Image Credit: Ramsey Royan