The girls’ tennis team remains ranked number one in their league after holding Cupertino off 5-2 in their match Tuesday afternoon at home.

Coach Andy Harader was enthusiastic about the result, as it keeps the Vikings on top.

“I feel very good [about the win], because this was one of the strong teams in our league,” Harader said. “We’ve now finished half the season, we’ve played every team in our league and we’ve beaten them [all] once, now we’ve got to go through the second round of it.”

Avanika Narayan (‘17) played number one singles for the Vikings and won in a third set tiebreaker (6-3, 3-6, 10-5).

For number two singles, Mailinh Truong (‘18) lost in a third set tiebreaker (3-6, 6-4, 5-10) after rallying to win the second set and stay in the match.

Kelsey Wang (‘16) won the third singles match in two sets (6-0, 6-2).

Emma Cockerell (‘18) also won in two sets (6-4, 6-4) in the fourth singles match.

In the number one doubles match, Madeline Lee (‘15) and Jacqueline Cai (‘18) won in two sets (6-0, 6-2).

Lee was satisfied with how her match went.

“My match went pretty well,” Lee said. “Jackie and I played pretty well together and our serves and our groundstrokes were consistent, and we were aggressive… those were our three goals and I think that we really accomplished them today.”

Number two doubles also did well, with Lucy Fox (‘15) and Halle Biorn (‘16) winning in two sets (6-2, 7-6).

According to Biorn, she and Fox were able to keep their concentration despite an upsetting call.

“[Our match] went really well,” Biorn said. “We did really well in the first set and [even though] in the second set we got a little distracted by a very questionable call by the other team..we regained our focus and pulled out the win.”

Meredith Cummings (‘17) and Claire Priestley (‘15) played number three doubles and narrowly lost in a third set tiebreaker (6-2, 7-6, 11-13).

Looking forward, Harader hopes to make it to section playoffs.

“We want to come in first in the league and then that way we get an automatic [pass] to ccs sectional championships,” Harader said. “And [we want to] have fun of course, particularly with all the seniors on the team.”

Lee echoed Harader’s opinion and added that she has high hopes for next season.

“What we’re looking to do is go to CCS and SCVALs and then hopefully move up [a league] next year,” Lee said. “I won’t be there, but I think we’ll have a really strong team.”

Although the Vikings feel confident in their season so far, before thinking about playoffs, they have to take on Milpitas.

“We’re on top, we’re in first place, so that feels really good and it feels good to have beaten this team because I know that they had a very close match with [Milpitas],” Harader said.

Biorn believes that although Milpitas is a good team, Paly has what it takes to beat them.

“The match on Thursday is supposed to be our toughest match,” Biorn said. “It should be interesting but I think we’ll come out with the win.”

The Vikings will play Milpitas at home at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 9th.