FRESNO – It might not be the upset of the century, but to the Sanger West varsity girls tennis, this victory against Fresno Christian represents big steps towards tradition and respect for their young program.
When the #3 seed Hornets defeated #1 seed Fresno Christian 5-2 for the Central Section D-IV Championship at the Fresno Christian Tennis Courts on Nov. 12, a loud buzz emanated from the hive. In true upset fashion, Sanger West managed to take care of business against one of the Section’s elite tennis programs.
Defeating the Eagles, who have won two D-V Section titles in 2021 and 2023, officially put the Hornets into elite company with some of the other top tennis programs in the Section.
“Fresno Christian has some great players; their number one and two are very good,” said Sanger West head coach Megan Lee. “We really try to hype our girls up, and they came ready to play that day.”
This Hornets (19-9) team, like all of the other major Sanger West varsity sports programs, is still in their relative infancy. Sometimes, it can take several years for young teams to develop into contenders. But for this squad, which is composed of student-athletes who had, at one point, never swung a tennis racket before, their ascension to the top is even more rewarding and special.
“This is my fourth year at Sanger West, so I came when sports started up,” said Lee. “The freshmen class that we had, they’re all seniors now, so it’s been really cool to see their growth.”
Sanger West’s rise to the top of the Section’s top tennis teams this season didn’t come by accident. A tougher schedule tested the Hornets, leaving them with some difficult losses, Lee said. But in the end, these struggles gave the Hornets a nastier stinger.
“Our league is very tough. We’re a Division IV school, but we had to play against Sanger High, Bullard High, San Joaquin Memorial,” said Lee. “So, even though we lost those matches, I think just getting the opportunity to play Division I schools…kind of motivated them to want to continue to push and get better.”
Senior Sahiba Khila has been one of the queen bees in a hive full of promising young players. Along with teammate Lena Moua, their play and leadership this season has been paramount to the success of the Hornets, Lee said.
“They’ve kind of been the leaders of our team and really taken the rest of the group under their wing,” said Lee. “They lead a lot of the warm up, the dynamic warm up, our hitting warm up; and they’re very tough mentally…a lot of our girls are wanting to kind of follow suit and give that same effort.”
The Hornets can now stake the claim as being the first athletic team in school history to claim a Section title in any sport. And this title will hang proudly from the walls of Sanger West’s Gym, The Hive, for all to see.
Now that the foundation for success has been set, the sky is truly the limit for this team moving forward in the future.
“That was pretty exciting, and that was kind of the driving force for us to say, ‘let’s be the first,’” said Lee. “That was kind of motivating us to want to keep pushing, so we’re hoping we’re going to continue moving in the right direction.”
