Girls varsity tennis defeated South Hills 11-7 in a home game Thursday, October 6, winning their first league game of the season. 

Senior varsity captains Audrey Qi and Mia Nam would play together as doubles partners, scoring their first point after a missed hit by South Hills. The captains held their lead, winning by several missed serves from South Hills. Walnut won their first-round matches 6-1, 6-4, 6-0, 6-0, 6-0, and 6-0.

“After winning the first set, I felt pretty good, but then again, I could not overestimate the other two doubles teams as doubles [team] three wasn’t that good,” Qi said. “Something I needed to work on after that set was serves and returns because I double-faulted a few times, and my returns after the opponents’ serves weren’t the best and consistent.” 

Following the first-round matches, Qi and Nam led with one point. Despite the captains’ early lead, South Hills quickly made their comeback, bringing the score 1-3. Walnut won two matches 6-2 and 6-1, while South Hills won the remainder 2-6, 2-6, 5-7, and 4-6.

“[During the second set, Audrey and I] did pretty well, though. I know it was kind of disappointing that we did not win, but we tried our best.” Nam said. “I think we got some pretty good shots in, so that’s all that matters, and we got to win overall as a team.” 

The third match began with a close game between the girls and South Hills. They continued to go back and forth until South Hills took the lead after the captains missed consecutive forehand shots, closing the score 5-6. In the third round matches, Walnut won three of them 6-3, 6-0, and 6-3. South Hills also won three matches 4-6, 5-7, and 5-7.

“[After] the South Hills match, I was very happy about how [the girls] stood up to adversity. They showed true grit and a lot of fighting spirit, and I hope they keep it up.” Varsity girls and boys tennis Coach Fasheh said. “I hope we can try to focus more on strategies and tactics [these upcoming weeks].”