Tennis faces off against Wenatchee - By Peyton Gonzalez

March 23rd, 2024, Richland High School's tennis team went up against Wenatchee High School. The bombers had a good fight, but Wenatchee sadly took both doubles and singles matches for the win. For the Bombers, number one for singles was Anna Hansen, and the number one spot for doubles was Kaya Chang and Hannah Slysz. They fought long and hard, leading both of their matches to go to a tiebreaker set. Anna won her first match 6-2, and then they went to their second match, ending with a loss 3-6. After these last matches, they had to bring it to a tiebreaker because each of them had won one match, so they kept playing and winning by two and finally ended the game with Wenatchee taking the win 10-8. Kaya and Hannah also had a very competitive match leading off their first game with a loss of 3-6, then they came back for that second game, winning 6-4. They went to their final match but also took a hard loss, losing 19-21. Back and forth, winning by two each time they tie, can lead to a long match, just like these games. It shows how competitive each of these teams is, but also how hard they are fighting to get that win.

That morning they had double the matches, the girls started off playing against Eisenhower at ten in the morning. But the matches got pushed back a little later due to how much it rained. The players had told me that the courts were so soaked. They had to dry the courts using towels and a leaf blower to get the games going as soon as possible. They could begin the games when the courts dried up and began to dry. Anna was number 1 for singles. She did her best going up against number 1 for singles on the wenatchee side, they took a long time to finish their match. They went to a 10-point tiebreaker. Anna tells me her thoughts during the game and the most challenging part: "I came into the match with a very confident mindset and carried myself well throughout the first set. Second match I was more relaxed during the games, I was going down hill and needed to refocus on my game. In my last match, my biggest challenge against my opponent started to call out harsh calls. I had to bring in an official line judge to call. The line judge helped me better my game. I lost 8-10 but left the game satisfied with my game." She said she also got a lot of learning experience from this match because she needed to stay focused and not get too comfortable throughout the match.

They had a great, long, and tiring match, but they showed each other some competition. During Kaya and Hannah's match for number one in doubles, they went into a long tiebreaker at the end. They also had some great similarities when it came to their competition; they fought for every point, but the bombers sadly lost after a long set. I asked the girls what their biggest challenge was in the match, and they said, "Our biggest challenge, especially during the last tiebreaker set, was playing a bit cautiously, and we began to play nervously. Instead of hitting with pace, we kinda opted to just get the ball in the court and that definitely led t mistakes on our part." They were also saying how maybe if they didn't play as nervously, it could lead to fewer mistakes and help them make those winning shots for themselves.

I talked to the bomber girls tennis coach, Tess. She provided me with information about the girls' season and going on to next year. I first asked how their season was going so far, Tess told me "It's been pretty good so far, a lot of players are on JV this year. But a lot of work is in progress, going on next year with the amount of players we have. We're going in a good direction." We were also talking about what the team needed to improve on, especially for those who are going up next year. She explained, "The team needs to work on consistency to compete, it's big in tennis. You have to be aware of where you're hitting the ball. It's also not all about how hard you hit the ball." There is a lot to tennis. I was told that it's like a big chessboard. You gotta hit it in the right spot. You don't need to put a lot of power behind the ball. Placement is huge.

At the end of the day, tennis seems like it would be a very difficult sport, but it's very entertaining. The girls did a great job at staying on top of every game and equal to their competition, these matches are very long and time consuming. It depends on the players your playing and how similar your consistency is, the more equal competition the players have against each other the longer the game could go. All in all, even though the bombers didn't take the win, they worked hard and had a great match.