Every year, it’s the same story; the same story for all the sports teams once the seniors graduate. The top players on the varsity team move on the next part of their lives, and it’s time for the junior varsity members to step up and take their place. When last year’s varsity tennis girls left for college, the top JV members took their places and prepared for summer practice.

Throughout the summer, Coach Tran has been drilling the varsity members and watching them play matches in order to size up the players and decide who will make the cut and which position they will play. Alumni tennis player Johnnel Fajardo conditioned the girls once to twice a week with a workout consisting of lunges, sprints, suicides, sit-ups, crunches, and hand-eye coordination techniques to prep them for the upcoming season.

“It’s always fun helping out the team even though I’ve graduated already, it just makes me fee like I’m a part of Mayfair still. Through all our intense labor, I know that it will eventually pay off for the team because of all the girls’ hard work and determination,” says Fajardo.

“There are a lot of new, young faces this year. It’s a fresh team in a stage of development,” says Coach Tran. But regardless of how many new members join the team each year, by the end of summer, everyone has greatly improved and their progress is definitely notable.

Tran says that his top players include senior Kristine Dominguez (doubles), senior Karen De La Paz (singles/doubles), and junior Angel May El Chico (singles). De La Paz says, “It’s an honor (to be one of Tran’s valued players), the team is really great and I’m glad to be a part of it. I hope we can make it past the second round of CIF this year.”All three players are fiercely consistent in their shots and are able to control the ball through techniques by hitting it down-the-line, cross-court, slicing, using drop shots, volleys, and lobs.

Tran states that, “Practice has been kind of slow, but it’s picking up. It should’ve been more intense, focusing on increasing techniques.” Regardless, senior Patricia Abellanosa, whose ankle was injured halfway into the summer practice, “is really excited to play this year and I hope that we have lots of fun!”

Despite the heat, both Tran and the team agree that practice is fun overall. Tran keeps the team amused by betting cheeseburgers, giving the players (unwanted) nicknames- “Odudu” Mika Remulla, “Lucifer” Angel El Chico, “Marcus” Emily Herring, and “Pink” Kylie Zeng. You can hear him yelling his favorite, constantly repeated phrases, like “HORRIBLE!” and “OH MY..!”; it’s definitely something the team will always remember.

This year’s team holds definite promise, and has high hopes for a win against Cerritos.