Dougherty Valley Girls Tennis Preview: Experience Key to Success for Wildcats

School: Dougherty Valley
Sport: Women's Tennis
Coach:  Patrick Estes, third year
Key returners: Neeraja Ravi, Kristine Bielaski, Angela Han, Lina Kim
Top newcomer: Rickimae Torre
Quote: "We have all of our top players from last year and a couple of freshmen that can help tremendously," coach Patrick Estes said.

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In order to compete in the tough Diablo Foothill Athletic League, a girls tennis team needs skill and experience.

Dougherty Valley has both.

The Wildcats kept all their top players from last season and added some new layers that can really help Dougherty Valley down the stretch.

"It's great to bring in some freshmen with playing experience," third-year coach Patrick Estes said. "Getting new players that have played before changes our outlook in what we need to produce good players. These new players can help the team a lot in match play."

One of the star freshmen is Rickimae Torres. Torres, according to Estes, will be the presumptive number one for the Wildcats this season.

With the addition of Torres and the continued strong play of returners Neeraja Ravi and Angela Han, Dougherty Valley has set a pretty high goal for itself this year — to qualify for the North Coast Section playoffs.

"I want to win NCS," Torres said.

Estes also wants to go to NCS, but he's not looking past the tough DFAL schedule ahead of the Wildcats.

"It's still early in the season so I don't know how the other (DFAL) teams match up against us," Estes said. "I know we have a strong team and I think we can win the DFAL."

Dougherty Valley's path to NCS starts with a preseason match against California next Tuesday. While Estes wants to beat the Grizzlies, he also wants to ensure his team improves for its later matches.

"I always look to win," Estes said, "but if I had to choose between winning and improving I'd have to pick improving. We need to learn physically and mentally from our wins and losses."

Estes said in the Wildcats need to work on both the mental and physical side of tennis in order to make it to NCS.

"We need to be mentally ready matches to develop the right state of mind," Estes said. "We also need to practice out strokes before so we feel good about the way we're hitting the ball. Above all else, we need to play hard."

The Wildcats' first DFAL match is Sep. 14 at Campolindo.

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