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(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Brodey Mills prepares to swing at a ball Wednesday, Sept. 24, against Bowie. Mills won his singles match at the top of the Steers leaderboard. -
(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Jade Dospapas serves the ball to her opponent Wednesday, Sept. 24. Dospapas picked up a win in her singles match against Bowie and fought hard with Kline Krupp in their doubles match. -
(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Stacey Gonzalez takes a swing at a ball during her singles match Wednesday, Sept. 24. Gonzalez picked up a win in doubles alongside Hope Jones.
It took longer than expected, but Graham’s tennis team took down Bowie in their meet by a score of 12-7.
Going into the full match, the team was facing some adversity. It has been a back and forth ride for the Steers and Lady Blues players on the team all season long.
“It’s been tough,” Head coach Matt Birdwell said. “We’ve got a lot of newcomers to varsity and they have growing pains. They have their ups and their downs. We’ve got a bunch of really good competition in our district, so it’s one of those things where it’s been a struggle sometimes but they’re coming around, we’ve just got to get them there.”
Several players were missing due to illness and the team found themselves having to get out of rhythm after their original start for the meet, being Tuesday, Sept. 23, was postponed due to weather.
However, the team gutted out a close contest for the win.
Both doubles teams on the girls and boys side of things picked up two wins to start the day for Graham.
Those wins came from the teams of Stacey Gonzalez and Hope Jones as well as Manjot Humpal and Lauren White for the Lady Blues. Also, despite their loss, the effort from Jade Dospapas and Kline Krupp was strong as they only narrowly lost their match 9-7.
For the Steers Keigan Garland and Brooklyn Tarsoaga picked up a win as well as the team of Jordan Miranda and Manuel Perez. Both of these wins came by scores of 8-2.
On the Steers side of things in the singles matches, Brodey Mills, Chris Reyes, Keigan Garland, Brooklyn Tarsoaga and Jordan Miranda all picked up wins over their opponents.
Birdwell made sure to highlight the strong performance from Mills. He is in his first season as the number one player on the boys leaderboard and picking up key wins like his 8-4 victory is crucial for the team’s playoff hopes.
Jade Dospapas, Kline Krupp, Manjot Humpal and Lauren White also picked up wins on the Lady Blues side of the singles bracket.
The team’s postseason hopes came down to a clinching meet Tuesday, Sept. 30, against Holliday on the road.
