At this year’s Battle of the Bay match, the Varsity Tennis Team came in ready to compete. Although the team didn’t reach their goal of beating CDM, they came out with fire and passion that will continue until they get revenge next year.

All pumped and ready to go, Freshmen doubles team, Amra Barton and Lauren Lipkowski, headed to the courts to start in their first Battle of the Bay Match. They knew this match wasn’t going to be easy, and Lipkowski admitted, “It was a little intimidating, but once [she] knew [she] had to do it for the team, [she] blocked everything out and just played [her] game.” Barton agreed and added how exciting it was. Although many believe that tennis is a single person sport, it is actually a team sport as Lipkowski had mentioned above. Everyone has a role to play in making the win happen. Even though the team fell short the first round 1-5, the Freshman duo pulled through gaining one win for the team. Going into that match, Barton described their mindset as focussing on “giving 100% and never stop being on [their] toes” because they “wanted to show those [CDM] girls just how bad [they] wanted it,” and they certainly accomplished that. During a match, Lipkowski loves having Barton as a partner because “[she] feels like [she] has no worries and always have each other’s backs.” Barton repeated the same for Lipkowski in saying, “[she] is so grateful for such an amazing partner [because] Lauren is able to pick [her] up on days that [she’s] struggling, and [she] is able to pump Lauren up when she needs it.” Barton admits that one of their secrets to success is that their “their friendship that continues off the court.” After the match, the pair came off the courts “not believing it but knowing [they] could do it” (Lipkowski) and “feeling overjoyed” (Barton). Although this win gave hope for Newport Harbor that they were beatable, the team knew it was going to be a tough battle ahead if they could pull it off. Barton explained that even though they had just won an amazing match that “[she] was going to go out there and grind for the next one because they were playing the #1 seed.” Unable to catch CDM, Harbor settled knowing that they are going to work harder next year and learning from the match to play their best in league.

In their last match before league, Barton and Lipkowski played phenomenally against Sage Hill last Wednesday, September 28th. They played as the #2 doubles team winning their first round in a tiebreaker and finishing off the day with a passionate celebration of their hard but well earned win against the Sage’s #3 team.

Harbor continues to fight on as they are 2-1 in league, winning to Marina and Edison but losing to Los Alamitos. More information about the Battle of the Bay match and about league are below.

Line-Up for BOTB Match:

Doubles:

1. Taryn Anderson and Eva Newsom

2. Megan Carey and Ally Harano

3. Lauren Lipkowski and Amra Barton (Pictured to the right)

Singles:

1. Hannah Blower (Pictured playing to the right)

2. Elise Rimland

3. Lacey Ryan

Sage Match from Daily Pilot:

Varsity Tennis Schedule: