South Fremont residents had much to cheer about on Nov. 7. In the Mission Valley Athletic League’s (MVAL) girls’ tennis championships, Irvington High School’s Samika Prasad won the singles championship, while Mission San Jose’s Hannah Bi and Kuhu Samant claimed the doubles trophy.
After more than a month of regular-season contests, the league championships — held from Nov. 5-7 at James Logan High School in Union City— saw all eight MVAL varsity teams compete in singles and doubles tournaments. In both contests, competitors were slotted into a five-round seeded bracket based on their record during the season.
Despite being a high school freshman, Prasad entered the singles tournament as the #1 seed— bumped up from #2 after a player injury. Playing a total of five matches, Prasad advanced from the opening Round of 32 to the finals without dropping a set —receiving praise from her coach.
“She’s played well above her years,” Irvington’s head coach Barry Poole said. “She just stayed composed, and just focused on what she had to do.”
In the finals, Prasad prevailed in the first set (2-1) against American High School’s (Fremont) Shreeya Sharma, who forfeited midway through the set due to an ankle injury.
Coming into the doubles tournament, Bi and Samant also held the #1 seed. They won each of their first three games in straight sets. However, the pair were challenged in the semifinals, defeating Irvington’s Diya Vacin and Miranda Huang in a third-set tiebreaker (2-7, 6-0, 6-2). In the finals, Bi and Samant faced another Irvington freshman — Olivia Hung — and senior Christine Chang, ultimately triumphing in three sets (2-6, 6-4, 6-2).
Mission team captain Moksha Rawlani credited Bi and Samant’s complementary backgrounds as key to their success.
“Hannah and Kuhu are both strong singles players, [but] their strengths and weaknesses balance each other out.”
Despite the loss, Poole also celebrated his team’s doubles performance.
“It was fun to watch Christine and Hannah exchange howitzers with each other,” Poole said. “Christine and Olivia did a great job.”
Heading into the North Coast Section (NCS) Girls Tennis team championships, Mission San Jose qualified as the #6 seed, and will face Berkeley High School Berkeley at 5 pm on Nov. 12 at Fremont Tennis Center. In addition, with their MVAL victory, Bi and Samant have qualified for the NCS doubles tournament, which starts on Nov. 18.
“We definitely will be moving into NCS strong,” Rawlani said. “Hannah and Kuhu have some tough matches coming up, but being the strong duo they are, I’m sure they will have no issues with it.”
In addition, Prasad’s victory qualifies her for the NCS singles tournament, beginning on Nov. 18. Hung and Chang are seeking an at-large wildcard berth into the NCS doubles tournament, which will be decided by an NCS committee on Nov. 14.
“This is probably one of the strongest teams I’ve had the pleasure to coach at Irvington,” Poole said. “They won the matches they were supposed to, and fought through the ones they lost.”
For more information on the girls’ tennis teams, visit maxpreps.com
