Central Valley High School's varsity girls tennis team put up a fight during its season-opening 8-1 loss to Pitman on Thursday in Ceres.
The final score didn't indicate how competitive some of the matches were.
"I thought we played okay," Hawks head coach Mike Rodriguez said. "Our No. 3 singles player (Bryana Lopez) was out sick. It hurt us a little bit."
Celest Lepe accounted for Central Valley's lone victory.
Lepe defeated Lane Hayman 6-3, 6-3 in No. 3 singles play.
"She won pretty easily," Rodriguez said. "She's tough to play against because she's a really good athlete and gets a lot of balls back."
Hawk teammates Teresa Diaz, Jadah Jackson, Chelsea Flores, Claudia Martinez, Vanessa Monroy and Nicole Munoz turned in respectable performances in defeat.
Diaz lost 6-4, 6-2 to Abi Wilson in No. 1 singles play.
Jackson lost 6-2, 6-3 to Yen Luu in No. 2 singles play.
Flores lost 6-4, 6-3 to Ashlynne Smith in No. 4 singles play.
Martinez lost 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to Karen Kahlon in No. 5 singles play.
Amy Nguyen lost 6-1, 6-1 to Lizzy Nicholson in No. 6 singles play.
Monroy and Munoz lost 6-2, 6-4 to Gabby Soria and Ashley Byers in No. 1 doubles play.
Trinity Avila and Maria Rojas lost 6-1, 6-0 to Daphne Blas and Alex Smith in No. 2 doubles play.
Stephanie Lopez and Aileen Brambilia lost 6-1, 6-1 to Deenpaul Kaur and Andrea Gamboa in No. 3 doubles play.
Central Valley will host Western Athletic Conference-rival Pacheco tomorrow at 3 p.m.
Ceres High varsity girls tennis head coach Bryan Harden praised his team following its season-opening 8-1 loss to visiting Tracy on Sept. 1.
"It's our first match," he said. "I'm not unhappy with the effort. The girls played hard. We're in experienced. It's going to take some time until they figure things out."
Ceres High lost two of three doubles and all six singles matches.
Sabrina Yang and Shania Evans defeated Tracy's Kaitlyn Doly and Bailey Poole 6-4, 6-1 in No. 2 doubles play.
"I liked what I saw," Harden said. "They were being aggressive."
Teresa Montes and Ariel Coria lost 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 to Caroline Coy and Julia Mullen in No. 3 doubles play.
Aleena Ahmed and Bella Rosas lost 6-0, 6-4 to Gabby Moderaza and Seanne Javier in No. 1 doubles play.
Andria Esho lost 6-0, 6-0 to Melanie Markovic in No. 1 singles play.
Stephanie Garcia lost 6-0, 6-0 to Sarah Kellogg in No. 2 singles play.
Dominique Koeurn lost 6-0, 6-0 to Tyler Ness in No. 3 singles play.
Jalani Blankenship lost 6-0, 6-2 to Mehek Nagpal in No. 5 singles play.
Alicia Villegas lost 6-3, 6-4 to Bella Ellis in No. 6 singles play.
Esho, Garcia, Koeurn, Heras and Blankenship played doubles last year.
"You have to be more consistent (as a singles player)," Harden said. "You're out there on your own."
Ceres High will face WAC-rival Los Banos tomorrow on the road at 3 p.m.
"I'm trying to keep things simple for them so they're not overwhelmed," Harden said.
