On November 17, the Girls Varsity Tennis Team faced University High School in the North Coast Section Division II Championship. This match took place at Mountain Lake Park in San Francisco and drew a nice group of Branson Bulls supporters. Coach Chrissie lined up her four top ranked players (Anna Rende, Mirabel Arlander, Audrey Gilmor and Katie Warrin, #1 through 4 respectively) for singles play and Sophie Liu/Alexandra Zak, Isa D’Amario-McShane/ Laila Elkhoury and Karis Crabill/Gaby Steele for doubles 1 through 3, respectively. There were only 4 courts available for play so singles 1 and 2 as well as doubles 1 got to watch their team mates battle it out first. Karis and Gaby offered the Bulls their first point, winning their match in 6-3, 6-4.
Isa and Laila fought hard but succumbed in 1-6, 1-6. Katie struggled to find her usual consistency and lost 3-6, 2-6. Audrey won the first set 6-2, but lost the second set 2-6 and couldn’t regain her form from the first set and lost the third set in 3-6. Anna Rende secured the Bulls a second point by beating her opponent handily with a “double bagel” (6-0, 6-0). By now, doubles 1 was well under way, which unfortunately ended up with the Bulls’ Sophie and Alexandra losing in 2-6, 1-6 which gave UHS the 4th point they needed for the win. Mirabel was still playing and finished her match with a convincing second set (6-2) and third set tie breaker (10-2) after a first set loss of 4-6, giving the Bulls a third point. Final score: Bulls 3 and Runner Up, UHS 4 and Champion.
The previous Monday, on November 14, Anna Rende traveled with Coach Chrissie to Arcata for the NCS Div II Individual Championship. Anna got off to a strong start in the round of 16, beating Marin Academy’s Amelia Thomas 6-1, 4-6, 6-2. Later the same day, in the quarter final, Anna faced Emma Bazemore from North Coast Prep and dismissed her with a 6-0, 6-1 win. The next day, Anna faced top ranked Noelle Chen from Head Royce in the semi-final; Noelle proved a formidable opponent and Anna succumbed in 4-6, 2-6. The highlight of Anna’s NCS Championship run was decisively beating Piedmont’s Tanya Kononova 6-2, 6-3 for 3rd place.
This was a fitting end to the Branson Bulls Girls Varsity tennis successful season. Anna reflected on the season by saying: “I am super glad I had the opportunity to play some really talented players, which helped my game jump to the next level. And I am extremely proud of our entire team for such an incredible season, everyone should be super proud!”
