With several new additions to the team, host Country Day defeated Linden 5-4 and Creative Connections Arts Academy (CCAA) 8-0 at Rio del Oro Sports Club on March 5 and 6, respectively.
Against Linden, the girls doubles team of sophomore Tina Huang and freshman Samhita Kumar won the deciding match 10-9. SCDS (3-0) once again had a singles sweep, with juniors Shiva Wolf (6-2, 6-1) and Keshav Anand (6-2, 7-5) and sophomores Vanessa Escobar (6-0, 6-0) and Sanjana Anand (7-6, 6-0).
Linden’s two victories on the court came in girls doubles, against junior Joanne Tsai and sophomore Sicily Schroeder, and in boys doubles, against juniors Jack Goselin (a new player) and Ashwin Rohatgi.
Country Day also forfeited one match in boys doubles and one in mixed doubles.
Kumar said she played well against Linden.
“We have good teamwork when we play points,” Kumar said. “We actually didn’t know it was the deciding match, so we were just playing to win ours. It was still stressful, though.”
Kumar said her serves still need improvement but she and Huang returned the ball well.
Coach Jamie Nelson said he enjoyed Huang and Kumar’s match.
“By far, the highlight of Thursday’s win was the tiebreaker (victory) by Tina and Samhita in girls doubles,” Nelson said.
On March 6, Country Day won all matches played against CCAA, a newcomer to the Sacramento Metropolitan Athletic League (SMAL). Each team forfeited a boys doubles match, excluding it from the score.
Against CCAA, Tsai earned her first victory with Stephanie Ye.
“We did a good job communicating, but we could improve individually,” Tsai said. “I need to keep the balls lower and speed it up a little.”
The Cavs will play at Forest Lake on March 10 at 4 p.m.
—By Nihal Gulati