“Tennis” continues on

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Tennis

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“Mountain View’s matches are scheduled on Mondays and Wednesdays so we really have no practice time,” varsity doubles play- Mountain View’s matcher senior Sofa Mujica said. es are scheduled on “Whereas Mondays and WednesMVHS prac- days so we really have tices at Reng- no practice time,” storf on their of days, we’re varsity doubles player going match senior Sofa Mujica after match said. “Whereas MVHS with little practices at Rengstorff practice before each.” There is liton their off days, we’re going match after tle the Eagles match with little praccan do about tice before each. the inconvenience. The — senior Sofa Mujica team is currently trying to work their practice times around MVHS matches, but there are often few hours of daylight left to practice in.

“Essentially, this becomes [Mountain View’s] home court for certain days,” LAHS varsity girls tennis coach Hung Nguyen said. “Seeing as how Saint Francis High School has had an agreement with the City for so many years, I was hoping we could come to some agreement to help Mountain View have their own space too. But unfortunately this is the situation we were left with.” The Eagles have been optimizing in the only way they can, fnding practice spaces and times whenever possible. These challenges have made the start of the season difcult, but the Eagles are already seeing improvement. They celebrated their frst win of the season on Tuesday, September 21, where they dominated against Saratoga High School 7–0. The JV girls have proved their resilience too by winning all four of their matches by signifcant margins against Gunn High School, Cupertino High School, MVHS and Saratoga High School. The Eagles hope for a more consistent schedule as the season progresses, but they have faith that they will triumph in future matches regardless.

ROHAN VASWANI

Senior Rose Liu serves during a doubles match against Mountain View High School.

ROHAN VASWANI Los Altos High School tennis courts are still in use despite construction on the back feld. Students from Mountain View High School have been assigned these courts for matches as their own tennis courts are out of use due to construction at MVHS.

Girls lacrosse welcomes new coach Christina Sabin

MIRA SUNDAR Sports Editor

Coming from a household where team sports were an integral part of everyday life, Christina Sabin knew exactly what athletic environment she was after when she tried out for her frst lacrosse team. At frst she was just tagging along with a friend to try out for a local club team, barely knowing any of the rules, but eventually the sport stuck.

“My frst year was miserable,” Sabin said. “I hated it. I didn’t know how to do anything; from passing to shooting the ball, I didn’t understand any of it.”

But rather than quit after her terrible experience, she told herself that going into high school, she would try out for the school team, just to see what would happen. Little did she know, the sport would eventually become her passion and the very thing she’d be inspiring other girls to give a shot.

“I had a blast,” Sabin said, crediting her amazing high school lacrosse experience to her high school coach — an old school New Yorker with a Brooklyn accent. “He was just really ‘nitty gritty,’ but honestly one of the best coaches I’ve had. Without him I wouldn’t have found my passion for the sport and my love

COURTESY CHRISTINA SABIN Sabin is pictured coaching her club team. She has prior coaching experience through her time coaching Team NorCal and the Tomahawks Lacrosse Club. She is excitd to bring what she has learned through these experienciences to her career coaching the Los Altos High School girls lacrosse team.

COURTESY CHRISTINA SABIN

Sabin (center) is pictured with some of her fellow teammates at Occidental College. She played four years of lacrosse in college and is excited to share the lessons she has learned through her time as a player and her visions for the upcoming season this Spring with the rest of the LAHS team. for being a team player.”

And it was due to this newfound passion for the sport that Sabin felt she could continue to play through college. She went on to play Division 3 lacrosse at Occidental College, where she received her bachelor’s in art and art history. While playing at Occidental College, she found many life-long friends in her teammates, and that camaraderie is something that she still cherishes today.

The new girls lacrosse coach Sabin hopes to carry that support over to the Los Altos High School lacrosse team. She wants her players to love the sport and aims to further expand the program — which is known for being notoriously small — to have a junior varsity team to play parallel to the varsity team. “While my goal this season is to obviously win some games, I do hope to be able to share some of the lessons that I learned as a player with my future team,” Sabin said. Going into this upcoming season, Sabin hopes to build the team around a strong defensive side, as she believes in order to have a strong ofensive you must have a solid defense — a result of her time as a defensive player in college. She translates this same coaching principle to her two club teams: Team NorCal and the Tomahawks Lacrosse Club, a travel team based in Palo Alto. “My ultimate goal this season is to make my team into better players and better people, just like my high school coach did for me,” Sabin said.