Victorious Vikings: La Jolla High girls’ tennis wins CIF

The La Jolla High School girl’s tennis team came out on top of the Division 1 CIF San Diego Section championships at the end of October. Seeded No. 1 going into the tournament, the team played a game a day Oct. 25-28.

In the first round, the Lady Vikings defeated Fallbrook. In the second round, they took out San Dieguito Academy. Third round, they triumphed over Del Norte. For the championship, they defeated Poway at the Barnes Tennis Center.

With guidance from Coach Darice Carnaje, who is new to La Jolla this year and also coaches basketball, the team banded together to win it all.

“It was a total team effort,” Coach Carnaje said. “Some days, girls who played doubles took care of business, then the singles players took care of business. If anyone had not contributed, we wouldn’t have won the way we did.”

She added the team grew progressively throughout the season, and “peaked” around CIF. “They got better with each match, which is tough for a student athlete, and this in particular was a tough tournament because you play every day. But this team has depth — the top girl all the way to the bottom was strong,” she said. “You can’t just have one or two strong players in this tournament to win, you have to have a strong team.”

The winning strong team is comprised of Romane Vigouroux, Yassi Mesri, Haley Mossmer, Coral Stalling, Olivia Doehr, Katie Couris, Maddie Fike, Peyton Westwood, Isabella Zeng, twins Josephine and Joyce Passananti, Ashley King, Alice Wu, Alex Kuo, and Julia Borad.