On November 16th, the Lick-Wilmerding Women’s Varsity Tennis team made history in the Division II North Coast Section (NCS) playoffs after winning their matches at City College of San Francisco. The team became the first Lick women’s tennis team to win NCS in school history as they defeated Head-Royce 4-3.
The team quickly advanced through the playoffs as the number one seed, starting the tournament by sweeping Cardinal Newman at home in a 7-0 match. They followed that win by beating College Prep 6-1 in matches that were originally postponed due to heavy rain. They finished the semifinals by besting tennis powerhouse Piedmont High School 5-2 a few days before the championship.
Looking back on the season, Julia Shaw ’21 knew that the team had a shot at a championship banner from the start. “Our team hadn’t beat Piedmont in almost seven years, and I assumed that we would have to play them in NCS at some point,” she said. “Once we beat them in a non-league match in the pre-season, I thought that we might have a good chance.”
Although the Women’s Varsity team had never won the championship before, they have had their fair share of success in the past few years. They advanced to the NCS semifinals in 2017 and won the Division II NCS singles tournament in 2018 when one-seed Olive Maunupau ’20 defeated her sister, two-seed Daisy Maunupau ’21.
“We had been working so hard all season and it paid off. I was really happy for the seniors who got to experience that in their last year,” Shaw said.
With only eleven people on the Varsity team, the group grew closer as the season progressed. Daisy Maunupau believes that everyone on the team were friends with each other. “It allowed us all to be comfortable and give useful advice without crossing a boundary. That doesn’t always happen on sports teams, so we were truly lucky to have such a connection. Our comfortability combined with our genuine likeness of every member of the team allowed for a season worthwhile,” she said.
The tennis team has been ranked in the top 5 teams in the section since 2013. LWHS Athletic Director Eliot Smith said of the team’s win, “I’m so proud of these girls, because for the past four years they have worked so hard and made so many sacrifices to build the program and to make it the best tennis program in the Bay Area.”
Smith hopes that this win influences other teams at Lick-Wilmerding. “If you have a team that cares for each other, that has some talent, that listens to their coaches and demonstrates every day that they want to get better, then there is always a chance that something special might take place at the end of the season.”
With many players graduating, the team will work to rebuild, but still has high hopes for next year and looks to defend their title. Daisy Maunupau was complimentary of the seniors, and said that losing the four of them “will hit the team hard next year, but everyone else, including me, has the potential to step up their game and continue to perform well. I have no doubts that we’ll be able to have a great season next year too.”
