Members of the Gilroy High girls’ tennis team have chosen books over backhands. Academics over aces.
The six Mustangs who qualified for the season-ending TCAL tournament, taking place today and tomorrow at North Salinas High, decided earlier this week to sit out the proceedings.
The qualifiers included singles’ players Jessica Ortiz and Amy Huang and the doubles’ pairings of Anna Nguyen/Tasha LoPorto and Monica Valdez/Robin Beckman.
“It’s unfortunate,” Nguyen said. “It’s tough for me and my partner especially, because we think we could’ve done pretty well and it would’ve been fun. But it’s just something all of us had to do.
“But it was definitely a hard decision.”
Some players are already making up tests because of previous tennis committments, Nguyen said, and couldn’t afford to miss two days of school and even more AP tests.
“Everything just seemed to add up,” she said.
As the team’s head coach, Rose Harmon said it was only natural to be a little disappointed.
“Sure,” she said. “Even if they might not have qualified for CCS, the experience would’ve been valuable.
“But it was their decision.”
Overall, Harmon said her first year of coaching was “definitely a learning experience.”
“Not only did I learn a lot about my girls, but about coaching, too,” she said. “I hope to be back next season. I enjoyed working with the girls and love them dearly. All of them were great.”
