"That should not happen in the natural world." -Coach Lou

So, yes. We started League this week for tennis. And I'm #3 singles on Varsity, as a freshman :] Heck, it's not as impressive as Priscilla (#2 singles as a freshman, then #1 after Jennifer left and Arlene was injured) but it's still pretty darn awesome.

Monday was our second-to-last pre-season match against Western. I played as #1 singles, for Melissa and Priscilla played as #2 doubles. Mahina and Paula played as #2 and #3. I lost my first set to a girl who didn't seem to take tennis very seriously... all she did was slice the ball. I let it get to me, and I lost 1-6. Coach told me that it was mental weakness; the reason I lost to her.

I couldn't pull myself together against the #3, and lost 0-6. Again, it was because of mental weakness. THis time, Coach told me that it was because I couldn't let go. He told me to watch Paula. SHe had lost the first set, too, but was fighting to win her second set-- not like me, who practically gave it up. Somehow, watching and encouraging Paula made me feel a lot better (encouraging people does wonders for me o_O), and I beat the #2. I forgot the score, though.

And so, on our first League match against Los Amigos (THe Friends!), I played #3 again. I think I lost. I don't remember, haha. But I know I won one set, and that all doubles swept, Priscilla swept, and Melissa won two. THat means our team score was 15-3-- we got killed like that at Valencia. xD It felt really, really good. JV got a good score, too-- 13-5.

The day of our match on Thursday, I was literally quaking in my shoes. "HOMG. JENNIFER HUA. HOMG. DEBBIE." Jennifer Hua is my distant cousin (my uncle married her mom/dad's sister...? I forget) and was singles champion in our league last year. Debbie is my sister's childhood best friend. I used to go to her house every day during summer. She's really good, too; it's just that she's afraid of our #2 singles, Melissa Le, who somehow always smokes her... I totally think Debbie can beat Melissa.

I had to play Debbie first, even though she's #2 singles. Her coach didn't want her to play Melissa first, so she played as #3. I lost to her 3-6, but I actually didn't mind that much. SHe told me she was so proud of me. "You're on Varsity freshman year. And as a singles player, too! Your groundstrokes got a lot better since I last played with you." THat "last time" was during sumer, when I got 2-6 on her bad day. SHe also told me, "You're going to beat the #2. That's actually supposed to be my spot." In return, I told her that she could beat Melissa-- because I know she can-- and also to watch out for Priscilla.

I smoked the number two-- that is, I would have, if I hadn't been going insane all day xDD I kept forgetting to change hte scorecard (Coach had to point it out to me once) and I kept hitting funky, weird shots o_O;; But still, I was like, "Heck yeah."

I came over to Coach Lou and reported the score. "6-3. Okay. Just wondering, but why did you keep forgetting to change the scorecard?" he asked me.

"I'm going insane!" I crowed, throwing my arms around. I mentally slapped myself.

When Melissa finished her set with Jennifer, she came over and told me, "You can beat her. You can beat Jennifer Hua." And since I was going insane all day, I gave her a more insane-looking look than usual. (If that makes sense.)

But I really did beat her... o_o It seemed as if she was conflicted or something, or worried about something. It seemed like she didn't really want to play that day or something, 'cause I won 6-4.

During our team talk, Coach looked at us and said, "Today, we won 17-1."

Someone (I think Christine) asked, "Who was the one?"

"Sorry," I muttered.

He glanced at me, a small smirk on his face. "Next time we get 18-0, the Hos are paying for pizza." Then, on a more serious note, he talked about Jennifer and how she wasn't playing well. SHe got 6-0'ed by Priscilla and lost 2-6 against Melissain addition to 4-6 against me. Coach looked me in the eye and said, "That should not happen in the natural world. You should not be able to beat Jennifer Hua. But you did. Now, that says something about where she's at and how bad she's playingg, but it also says something about where you're at. Keep it up."

WHen I went up to talk about my matches, Coach comes up and says, "You know what this girl told me today? 'Coach, Ah'm goin' crazy!'!" He tried to imitate my arm-swapping thing.

The other girls laughed. I heard Arlene ask, "Why'd you tell him that, Sarah?!"

But yeah. I felt pretty good about those matches. :] We've gone up two out of ten steps, and I hope we can get to the very top this year!