Royal girls best Wapato on the court
CALEB PEREZ | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 10 months, 3 weeks AGO
Cambpelle Anderson from Royal’s girls first doubles team said despite the win she felt she could have done a little better in Monday’s match and looks to hone her skills for the future.
CALEB PEREZ/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
Lauren Allred put on an impressive performance, winning her singles match 6-0, 6-0.
Miguel Salas prepares to serve in his hard-fought match that went into a tie-breaker round.
Madi Christensen from the girls first doubles team readies herself to return a serve from Wapato.
K.J. Greenfield and his partner Dennis Hernandez made up the Royal boys first doubles team and played a strong game against Wapato.
Ruby Hernandez continues the volley in girls second singles match.
Royal’s second girls doubles team of Madyn Smith and Hayden Sutor won their matches 6-2, 6-3.
ROYAL CITY – The Royal Knights girls tennis team earned a 4-1 victory against Wapato in their Monday afternoon matches.
“We started pretty slow and then we kind of got into it in the first set, but we weren’t playing our best today,” said Cambpelle Anderson, girls first doubles team for the Knights. “Just focusing on the simple things like serving and returning serves.”
All three doubles teams came up with a win as Anderson and her partner Madi Christensen won 6-1, 6-1, Hayden Sutor and Madyn Smith won 6-2, 6-3 and Tania Verduzco and Heaven Parker won theirs 6-0, 6-0. Lauren Allred won 6-0, 6-0 in her singles match.
“That was good to get out there and get the win on the girls side,” said Knights coach Rodrigo Fajardo.
The boys' side took a loss on the day, going 0-5 in their matches. Despite the loss there Fajardo said they are still on the right track towards success.
Fajardo said that if the team can learn anything from Monday’s matches, it's that there is still plenty of time for the players to make the improvements and adjustments necessary to perform their best.
“There’s still a lot of time before districts where we can peak,” said the coach. “So, at any level wherever we’re at we can always improve.”
Royal City’s next opponent will be Naches Valley which boasts a strong girls team that the Knights will have to prepare for, he said.
“It does challenge my girls a bit and you know iron sharpens iron when you play against someone that’s pretty tough,” said Fajardo. “I think it’s good for both parties to improve.”
In preparation, the team is looking to improve their consistency overall and start playing with more confidence. They tend to play safe on hits and serves and he hopes he can get them to the level of confidence where they are comfortable putting more power into their shots, he said.
“I’m just really excited for the season and how it’s going to unfold,” said Fajardo. “These players are really great to coach, and it makes coaching easy when players are motivated to improve.”
The Knights will be playing at home against Naches Valley today at 3 p.m.
Lauren Allred put on an impressive performance, winning her singles match 6-0, 6-0.
Miguel Salas prepares to serve in his hard-fought match that went into a tie-breaker round.
Madi Christensen from the girls first doubles team readies herself to return a serve from Wapato.
K.J. Greenfield and his partner Dennis Hernandez made up the Royal boys first doubles team and played a strong game against Wapato.
Ruby Hernandez continues the volley in girls second singles match.
Royal’s second girls doubles team of Madyn Smith and Hayden Sutor won their matches 6-2, 6-3.ARTICLES BY CALEB PEREZ
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