Individual playoffs have gone very well for the Venice girls’ tennis players. Singles player Sally Mercado, doubles players Rachel Ma and Desiree Webster-Zuber, and Brittany Hwang and Amy Lo played their first round matches on Nov. 29th. Doubles team Jessica Haraga and Kima Moreno entered the tournament at a high seed of 7, giving them a first round bye.

“It’s really cool being number 7 seed because last time we were ranked number 8 last year, showing improvement,” says Haraga.

Doubles team Ma and Webster-Zuber won their first round match against Gardena High.

“It feels great and [it] feels like I’ve accomplished a lot,” says Ma, as she and Webster-Zuber took the match with scores of 4-6, 6-1 and a tie-breaker with a score of 8-10.

“They were surprisingly better than we thought and we managed to pull through,” Ma added. The girls moved onto the next round to face off against Franklin High to compete in the second-round matches Dec. 3rd.

The doubles team Hwang and Lo played Verdugo Hills as their first round match. The Gondo girls were leading at the beginning, but started to fall back, allowing the girls from Verdugo to catch up. The girls won the match with a score of 6-4, 3-6 and a tie breaker score of 10-6. Lo and Hwang moved on to the second round to face off against El Camino also on Dec. 3rd.

It was a happy story for the doubles team; however, the only singles player to represent Venice, Mercado, was eliminated in the first round. She played Chatsworth High, a very difficult team to beat. She put up a good fight, but lost.

“It’s exciting that all the doubles teams won, and I hope that we’ll all end up playing each other,” says team captain Haraga; however, the hope was gone in the second round matches.

The second round matches took place on Dec. 3rd. They were originally supposed to be played on Nov. 30th, but bad weather conditions postponed the matches.

Doubles team Haraga and Moreno played their first match for individuals. The team had confidence in the two. The girls played Verdugo Hills and won 6-4, 6-2.

The other two doubles team didn’t have such good results as Haraga and Moreno. Ma and Webster-Zuber played against Franklin High. “We weren’t playing our best,” says Ma. They were defeated with a game score of 3-6 1-6.

The last doubles team, Hwang and Lo, played El Camino. El Camino’s Kelsey Finn and Candace Sakamoto were very strong players. Hwang and Lo lost with a game score of 6-0, 6-0.

“It’s not only winning that’s fun,” says Lo “missing classes and getting awarded is just as fun!”

Haraga and Moreno played their next match on Dec. 4th for round 3 in the individual playoffs. They played Lauren Gin and Angela Hong from Eagle Rock. The girls beat Eagle Rock with a score of 6-3, 6-5.

By winning the third round match, Haraga and Moreno is the last remaining seeded team in the tournament, showing a higher chance of winning.

This is Venice’s biggest chance to become champions of high school tennis doubles in the city.

The girls played against Granada Hills on Dec. 5th. The match was very close, going into a three setter. Nikki Hseuh and Monica Sirathanarun of Granada were very good players, and “the gondo girls weren’t playing their best,” according to Haraga. Haraga and Moreno lost 6-3, 4-6, 1-6.

“It was a well deserved match for Granada,” says Haraga, “they had good sportsmanship and were strong players.”

Haraga and Moreno were not able to beat Moreno and Kristine Kamimura’s record. Moreno and Kamimura were able to make it to the semifinals, ending in 4th place in the tournament last year.