Tennis is in full swing. No pun intended.
Pima was our home opening match (Feb. 21). Also our toughest competition. We barely beat them as a team 5-4. Meaning we won 5 matches and lost 4 matches. We play a total of 9 matches. 3 doubles and 6 singles. So each of us plays twice. Kayla and I had a tough match up in doubles. Two Utahns against two Utahns. The two girls that we matched up against were also from Utah. One of them actually went to the same high school as Kayla. The other one played at a different high school but Kayla played against her in school. Teammate reunion for Kayla, while I was just like, Hi I'm Loni, can we start now? I actually knew Kayla's teammate. I remember seeing her at state during high school. Both of those girls were going to come to Eastern Arizona to play tennis but decided to go to Pima, because of other reasons. Long story short...we lost the match. Kind of disappointing. I have confidence we will beat them next time around. I also lost my singles match. Two disappointments in one day. Awesome. By this point I am just happy that we won as a team. The deciding match was Kayla's match. She played against her old teammate. Crazy intense match. Kayla pulled it off though and won, giving us the 5-4 win. First match of the season. Successful.
Paradise Valley (Feb. 26)...where do I begin. This match was sorta a joke because they only have 3 people on their team. So by forfeit we had already won, but since they were traveling to our courts we still played against them. Side note...Kayla has hurt her wrist pretty bad at this point. As of right now she actually has a stress fracture. Because of Kayla's injury, I moved up and played 3rd singles. Funny story...the lady I played against was at least 50 years old. No joke. True story. I played against a 50 year old. Don't ask me how that works. I guess if she is a student she can play? Honestly I don't know. I am just thankful that I won. If I'd have lost, I would have never let myself forget it. She wasn't a great player so beating her wasn't that hard. Maja and Patricia beat the other two girls in doubles and singles. So you could say the final score was 9-0. Clean sweep.
Mesa (Feb. 28) was a great match. Kayla and I beat our competitors in doubles. It was a great match and we played awesome. We are really starting to work well together. Playing doubles first feels good too. I helps me relax before I play singles. Plus you have a partner to help you. I have to admit though that I do enjoy singles a lot more than doubles. But doubles is growing on me. I couldn't have been happier with how my singles match was played. The girl was getting so frustrated and I took advantage of that. The best was when I would ace her. Best feeling ever. Getting a compliment from her coach was nice too. Her coach stayed on the court most of the time, since the girl was getting frustrated. She needed that extra boost. I couldn't help but laugh at points. Especially when I would make a mistake and the girl would cheer herself on loudly and her coach would say to her, "Work with that, you'll take it. Come on girl!" I was still beating her and me laughing helped me not to get down on myself. I played great. I beat her. It was a clean sweep. We took them by storm 9-0. EAC is leading the pack.
Glendale (March 5) was our first away match. Glendale is near the Mesa area so I was a nice long van ride. We left at 8:30 in the morning. That day I did not feel so great. I had a major headache and a weird sore throat. The last thing I wanted was to be sick during a match. The drive that we took didn't help my headache either. On the main road there was a big car accident. So we took a back road around. Small bumpy road, with a lot of turns. I'm sitting in the back seat feeling every bump. My head is throbbing. I tried to forget the pain and zone out. Once we got into the Mesa area we stopped for lunch at Subway. I got out of the van and felt sick. I wasn't hungry and my head still hurt. I got a small sandwich but didn't eat much of it. When I don't feel good, I don't eat. I am always too nervous before a tennis match to eat too. My mom knows this. I hardly ever go to the bathroom either. Just weird things about me. Half ann hour later we were warming up on Glendale's tennis courts. Since Kayla has a stress fracture in her wrist she didn't play at all that day. So Pedro (Ashley) was my doubles partner. Pedro and I never really played doubles together before, except once at practice. It was different, but we pulled it off. We won our match. My singles match on the other hand was a struggle. It lasted forever. Everyone was done with their matches before I had even started my second set. I lost the first set in a tiebreaker. Meaning the set went to 6-6, and she won the tiebreaker 7-5...I think it was. (I often forget my scores after I play) I won the second set 6-4. Since we had split sets we needed to play another set or a tiebreaker to decide the winner. We played a super tiebreaker. I won the super 10-4. (I'm sorry if you don't understand the scoring of tennis, it is confusing and hard to explain) I beat the girl. I should have beat her earlier and quicker but I lost it during my match. It was a total mental game for me. Patients was key. I am just grateful that I won because everyone else did too. Once again 9-0. If I'd have lost...I probably would have been mad the whole ride home. The feeling of being the only one who lost, isn't great.
Like I said before...We are dominating all competition. We are 4-0 in our season. Our next match isn't until next week. But we are still working hard, and pushing ourselves. Being 1st in the region is our goal. If we can beat Pima again, I have a good feeling we will be the leaders.
This next week is our spring break...and we have a match on Thursday (March 21). Yay!...sorta. The tennis team will be holding the fort down in good ole Thatcher while everyone else is out enjoying their spring break. I'm so happy there are so many things to do in Thatcher..........BIG exaggeration. There is seriously nothing to do here. I plan on trespassing into the pool. No one will be around to know right? Plus the weather is suppose to be perfect.
Lucky for me I get to go home this weekend. Just for the weekend though. My oldest brother is getting married on Saturday. I am so happy for him. He chose a keeper. I fly home on Friday and fly back on Monday. So I guess you could say I get to go home for part of spring break. It will be a nice little trip.
Here is a little preview of our tennis match against Mesa. A professional photographer came and took pictures of us. I don't know where he is from, but he took some great photos. Don't worry Mama I'll bring the rest home on a flash drive for you.
Congratulations on your wins. Good job!
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