FREMONT – Opening its TRAC schedule, the Fremont Ross girls tennis team placed a bet on itself.
Vivyanna Esquivel
The Lady Giants loaded up all their returning letter-winners in doubles matches and wagered they could win one of the three singles matches to take the match.
Phase 1 of the plan worked without a hitch as Gillian Gallagher and Lily Abdoo (No. 1 doubles) and Berlin Swaisgood and Sophia Biggins (No. 2 doubles) rolled to straight-set wins.
Phase 2 didn’t come easily, but Vivyanna Esquivel pulled out a hard-fought first-set win at No. 3 singles then cruised to pull out a 7-6 (7-0), 6-2 victory, giving the Lady Giants the 3-2 victory.
“Vivyanna was the hero today,” said coach Lisa Wolfe. “She struggled in the first set, just hung in there, hung in there and it crept up to where they had to play a tie-breaker. I said ‘Take care of business now, so you don’t get yourself in a third set’. She dominated the tie-breaker and pretty much after that dominated the second set.”
In addition to picking up the match-deciding victory, Esquivel once again gained the attention of her opponents for her conduct during play.
Last week, the Lady Giants and their opponents began a postgame program of recognizing a player from the opposing team for their sportsmanship. Esquivel has won the Lady Giants’ Sportsmanship Award, given by Whitmer Thursday and last week from Southview.
“She is one of those players that every player on my team should mimic, I tell them all the time,” Wolfe said. “You don’t know if she’s winning or loser, ever. She keeps the same composure, the same game face on the entire time and she’s very kind and considerate on the court.
“There is zero attitude with Vivyanna and it’s wonderful other teams are seeing this and it’s amazing to me that out of 11 girls, she’s received it twice.”
Wolfe said Thursday’s lineup is likely they lineup they’ll use in the season-ending TRAC championship and sectional tournaments, but she’ll continue to mix-and-match as needed to win conference duel matches.
“It’s the decision – and I agree with it – this is how those senior letter-winners want to play for the TRAC championship,” Wolfe said. “You’re not always going to see (Thursday’s lineup). Our No. 1 goal is always going to be to win the duel match, so whatever way we have to twist up our line-up in order to play and win, that’s what we’re going to do.”
The Lady Giants are now 4-0 on the season, 1-0 in the TRAC. Ross has a busy week next week, playing Monday through Thursday, including TRAC matches at Findlay and home against Lima Senior next Thursday.