2002 PREVIEW GIRLS' TENNIS: VALENCIA EYES RUN AT A TITLE.Byline: Lauren Lauren as a surname may refer to:
VALENCIA - The girls' tennis team at Valencia High intends to play David to the Foothill League's version of Goliath. The Vikings think this is the year they could muscle away the league title from mighty Burbank. Last year Valencia finished second behind Burbank and lost just two seniors from that team. And the Vikings retained their No. 1 player, senior Ashley Herrera. Burbank's dominance is sustained by a steady flow of players from the nearby Burbank Tennis Center but should be more vulnerable this year as it lost last year's No. 1 singles player, Olga Yepremian, to graduation Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the associated ceremony. The date of event is often called degree day. The event itself is also called commencement, convocation or invocation. . Both times Valencia faced Burbank last year it lost 10-8. ``I see us being more competitive for first place this year,'' coach Jeff Holen said. ``I'm definitely looking forward to the season.'' ``I was really impressed im·press 1 tr.v. im·pressed, im·press·ing, im·press·es 1. To affect strongly, often favorably: with Sayaka Imagawa,'' Herrera said. ``The first day we hit, I knew she got a lot better over the summer. Everyone out there is hustling hustling Medical practice The illegal soliciting of victims of accidents or dread disease, to provide them with services; after being hustled, the Pt's insurance company is usually billed for office visits and treatment. See Ambulance chaser. and doing drills to improve.'' Imagawa, a senior, will play No. 2 or No. 3 singles. Herrera also is excited about the tandem (Tandem Computers Inc., Cupertino, CA) A former major manufacturer of fault-tolerant computers founded in 1974 by James Treybig and provider of the early 21st century technology for HP's enterprise computing strategy. of Elisa Duff and Elyse Mazursky, both juniors, who should provide stability at the No. 1 doubles spot. Herrera, who is a softball softball, variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Invented (1888) in Chicago as an indoor game, it was at various times called indoor baseball, mush ball, playground ball, kitten ball, and, because it was also played by women, ladies' player first, has been at No. 1 singles since her sophomore year. ``I enjoy playing softball more because I've been playing it longer,'' said Herrera, who started tennis six years ago. ``And tennis is such a challenging sport to master.'' Herrera, who plays shortstop in the spring, has discussed playing softball at several colleges next year. She has parlayed the mental discipline necessary to win in tennis onto the softball field. ``Tennis has helped my softball game because you're out there on your own and you can't ever show emotion,'' Herrera said. ``You can't lose your cool when you're doing badly. You have to be focused all the time.'' Herrera, who is 5-foot-7 and right-handed right-handed adj. Using the right hand more skillfully or easily than the left. , said she wins because she knows how to adjust her style of play depending on who's across the net. If her opponent is less challenging, she'll head toward the net for more volleys and take bigger chances. If she's up against more competitive players, she'll try to stay in points longer by hanging around the baseline The horizontal line to which the bottoms of lowercase characters (without descenders) are aligned. See typeface. baseline - released version , hitting more groundstrokes. ``I know Lucy (Vouchkovets, a sophomore at Burbank) has probably been playing all year,'' Herrera said. ``And Yasaman (Sakhakorn, a sophomore at Saugus) plays almost every day.'' Herrera focused on softball over the summer. She traveled to Oklahoma with the Batbusters club team of Orange County to win the ASA Asa (ā`sə), in the Bible, king of Judah, son and successor of Abijah. He was a good king, zealous in his extirpation of idols. When Baasha of Israel took Ramah (a few miles N of Jerusalem), Asa bought the help of Benhadad of Damascus and 18-and-under Gold National Championship. So it's understandable Herrera could use a refresher course in tennis. ``Coach was on my case about footwork,'' Herrera said. ``I've tried to focus on it, but he keeps reminding me. He's really into getting back into the feel of the game.'' VALENCIA Coach: Jeff Holen 2001 record: 10-5 Foothill League finish: 8-2 Playoffs: Lost in the second round Southern Section playoffs. Key returnees: Ashley Herrera (Sr., No. 1 singles); Sayaka Imagawa (Sr., singles); Elisa Duff (Jr., doubles); Elyse Mazursky (Jr., doubles). CAPTION(S): photo, 2 boxes Photo: Valencia's Ashley Herrera returns in the No. 1 singles spot for the Vikings, who hope to oust oust tr.v. oust·ed, oust·ing, ousts 1. To eject from a position or place; force out: "the American Revolution, which ousted the English" Virginia S. Eifert. Burbank in the Foothill League. Box: (1) VALENCIA (see text) (2) SCHEDULE |
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