Reagan varsity tennis faced off last week in the Area playoffs against familiar rival, Vandegrift High School. Reagan’s young team was gaining momentum at the beginning of the match when Ellie Held/Italia Valencia and Jon Totorica/Anish Sehgal won their doubles matches in straight sets while four other matches were battling it out in 10-point tie breaks. The Rattlers were only able to take one of the all-important tiebreaks (Scott Fonger/Diego Alvarez) and was at 3-4 at the end of doubles play. Headed into singles, the Rattlers would need to win 7 of the 12 lines to get to the magic number 10 for the match.
In singles, Vandegrift took an early lead by winning three girls’ lines, but junior Jon Totorica, sophomore Anish Sehgal and senior Gavin Fonger responded with three wins on the boys’ side. With clutch wins for the girls, sophomore Italia Valencia and freshman Sabrina Scanlon won their lines to tie it up at 8-8. Only three matches remained on court, with each player battling for every shot; teammates from both schools were on the sidelines, cheering after each point. In the end, Vandegrift pulled out the win, giving Reagan their first loss in the season.
This well-fought match highlights an amazing fall season for a young varsity team, more than half of whom are new to varsity. Expectations are always high for Reagan tennis, and this group rose to each and every occasion this season, losing only to the top teams in the state.
As the Rattlers look forward to the individual spring season, we reflect on the contributions made by the seniors and the strength they brought to the team on and off the court: Top row left to right: Gavin Fonger, Gaston Gonzalez, Adrian Pachano; Bottom row, left to right: Jacqueline Huang, Kathy He, Angela Pozos, Marcella Perry, Sarah Stevens, and Neveen Jaafar.
Photo courtesy of Eric and Ale Razo