Alameda High Women's Tennis Advance to 2024 NCS Quarterfinals

November 12, 2024, Washington Park -- The game of tennis is often seen, rightly, as a solitary pursuit. High school tennis is a great example of the contrary, where each team member's effort is equally important across all skill levels and matches. Though Alameda's top two singles players lost two tough matches, the team's #3 and #4 singles players each won in three sets, and the #1 and #2 doubles duos came through with wins to secure the victory for the Hornets over the Wolves of Danville's San Ramon Valley, 4-3.

Juliana Johnson at #2 singles, faced a tricky opponent in Olivia Galloway, losing 0-6 in the first set, had her chances in the second, before falling 3-6. #3 Renata Serna once again came back from being a set down, solving her opponent Sandrine Charlebois's game, winning 3-6 6-2 6-1. Sophie Featherstone at #4 won in three sets as well, regrouping to win 6-4 2-6 6-3 over Sydney Yuen. It was an emphatic win for doubles #1 Abby Moore and Natalie Wong, 6-0 6-2, over Leah Bensch and Claire Ryan. Alameda's #3 doubles combo of Caroline Sue and Lauren Yee lost a very close match to Dillon Pingatore and Abby O'Rell, 4-6 5-7. At this point the overall tie hung in the balance with Alameda holding on to a 3-2 match lead. It was the #2 doubles team of Zoey Jalleh and Nora Lloyd who put the Hornets over the line with the seesaw scoreline of 6-0 1-6 6-1 over Lulu Townsend and Skyler Stratmore.

Though the overall outcome was known by midway through the first set of the #1 singles match, it turned out to be a scintillating duel between Alameda freshman Alice Chen (UTR 7.08) and SRV's Monica Tekic (UTR 8.14). Chen was on her game in the first set, firing winners on both forehand and backhand wings, scrambling on defense to get back Tekic's powerful groundstrokes, and cruising to a 6-2 set win. After a rather extended delay between sets by Tekic, the second set was just as entertaining and tense, with Tekic taking the second set 6-3. The match was decided by a third set tiebreaker, Tekic winning 10-5. Chen can hold her head high, having shown she has the mental toughness, shotmaking ability and defensive skills to go far in her tennis career.

#8 seed Alameda face #1 seed Miramonte next. The match will be played at Miramonte in Orinda at 5pm Thursday under the lights with cooler conditions expected.