Garden Grove Takes Important Step

Part of William Lou’s goal this year for the Garden Grove girls’ tennis team is to make it past the second round in the Division III playoffs.

Thursday, Lou’s team got one step closer to that goal by defeating Edison, 14-4, in the first round at Garden Grove.

Lou, who is leaving coaching at the end of this season, has been with the team six years and led them to four league titles and four consecutive playoff appearances. Each year the Argonauts have been eliminated in either the first or second round.

“We’ve been through a lot this year and I’m really proud of this team,” Lou said. “This is one of the best teams I’ve had, but they just have to believe in themselves. Anything can happen.”

Garden Grove (18-3) thought the match would be closer, but the Argonauts dominated Edison, taking a 6-0 lead at the end of the first round.

Edison (8-10) won only one set, before Garden Grove put the match away in the second round, taking a 10-1 lead.

“This was supposed to be a close match,” said the Argonauts’ No. 1 singles player Nicole Lerma. “We were worried about it all week. They are a good team, so I don’t know what happened.”

Lerma, a senior, swept her sets, 6-4, 6-0, 6-0.

In doubles, Garden Grove was led by Jamie Kong and Le Phan, who won 6-4, 6-0, 6-1 and Rachel Naishtut and Van Ngo who won, 7-6 (7-2), 6-0, 6-3.

“This is the first match we’ve lost in the second round,” first-year Edison Coach Lori Peterson said. “It’s been a challenging year. We have been a very up-and-down team. [Garden Grove] played very well today and we didn’t.”

Garden Grove will play at Canyon Saturday in the second round.