This season, the Los Altos High School varsity girls tennis team made history: once by winning CCS, twice by winning the CIF State Northern California Championships, and thrice by becoming runner-ups to a state title.
“This has been a dream of a senior season,” Co-captain senior Tyra Bogan said. “The team performed exceptionally from start to finish, and the most impressive thing was that everyone kept improving, and our commitment level kept increasing.”
The near-undefeated season had just one league loss: a 3–4 loss to Palo Alto. The single point loss came while the Eagles were missing their full lineup.
“We were disappointed after we lost, but we used that as motivation to come back stronger and tell ourselves that we could win and go even further,” Junior Daniella Lee said.
The Eagles easily dominated the top De Anza League 11-1, earning Los Altos the top seed in Open Division CCS. After losing the CCS semifinals last season, the Eagles aimed to win the Championships this year.
“I knew we had the team to do it, but the question was whether we could deliver when the pressure was on,” Tyra said.
On Saturday, November 16, the Eagles defeated the Menlo School Knights 5–2 to win CCS and hold the number one seed going into NorCal. The Eagles then defeated the Knights 4–3 again for the championship match on Wednesday, December 4 to win the NorCal title.
Doubles team co-captain junior Carissa Lai and junior Ava Randall played a key part for both championship matches. Though they won both matches in straight sets, all but one of their sets went to tiebreak — a high pressure all or nothing condensed game to decide the set’s winner. For Norcals, their first set tiebreak spanned twenty-eight points, where the eagles prevailed 15-13. They captured the second tiebreak 7-5 to win the title, after which the girls stormed the court.
“Once we won CCS, we knew we could win NorCal, and we did,” Tyra said. “We’re super excited to be a part of history, and to do it with a group of girls I love so much is a big deal.”
On Monday, December 9, the Los Altos traveled to Fresno to compete against the number one high school team in the country, Palos Verdes. Ultimately, the Eagles were defeated 2–5, but juniors Pallavi Mallampati and Bella Mariona gave the Eagles a fighting chance, winning both of their singles games and earning Los Altos two points.
“We knew we were going up against a better team so going into States, everyone felt nervous,” Pallavi said. “Our goal for next year is to win States as a team.”
Though losing at states, the Eagles stayed proud about their progress: being able to compete in California’s second ever Girls Tennis State Championship and going up against the number one school in the nation.
“It was so amazing to see the level of tennis that was played,” Daniella said. “Everyone was just super proud we were able to make it this far.”
“It’s always disappointing to lose, but to win even just two matches against a top national school is so huge — all I can be is proud,” Tyra said. “I honestly couldn’t be happier. Playing at States is a dream even if you lose the final.”
