Saturday, October 29

undefeated!


mmhmm... the valley christian girls team pulled through in the most intense and close match i have ever experienced against maranatha on tuesday. this is the team with the really good girl who pulls bagels off of everyone... however, i made a goal for myself to get a game off of her. well, i got TWO! yup yup... who would know that getting two games would be so exciting? it felt good.

anyway, back to the intensity of this match. for those of you that don't know how highschool tennis works, here is a quick explanation (for those who do know how this works, skip down to the next paragraph). there is a 1, 2, and 3 singles, and a 1, 2, and 3 doubles. each singles player will play each of the other team's singles player (so each will play a total of three sets... so, a total of 9 singles sets will be played by the singles players). the same goes for the doubles... a total of 9 sets. so, the team that wins the match is determined by which team wins the most sets out of 18. however, with 18 being an even number, it is possible to tie, 9-9. if that occurs, you then add up ALL the games (not sets...games make up a set) and whoever has the most games will win.

ok... so here we go. this match would determine if we were going to be undefeated league champs (we had already clinched the 'league champs' part... but we wanted the undefeated). maranatha's singles came out hard, but so did we. i won 2 and lost 1 (to that pro girl:) . i was done pretty fast, so i was heavily involved in the watching of the other sets and keeping score. our #1 doubles lost their first set (they had been undefeated up until that point), so that kind of caused a little bit of worry. as the match progressed, we found ourselves behind maranatha. our #3 singles player was down 1-5, and at this point, maranatha already had 8 sets, meaning that they only need two more sets to win the match, or one to make it a tie and go to games. we had 6 sets, so there were 4 sets left... 3 doubles and the singles match that we were down in. we had to win all of them to win the match.

our singles girl pulled it off and came back to win... it was incredible!! ok... so three left. two of the doubles sets went fast... we won them pretty easily. now, down to one set. the match score at this point was 9-8, with us having 9. in this last set, were down 1-3, then 2-4. at this point, everyone is watching and incredibly nervous. i don't think i have ever been put through such a nerve-wrecking match by just watching. we hadn't started counting games yet, but we figured that who ever won this set, would win the match... if we tied and went to games, we thought that maranatha would have more games.

it was then 4-5, and we counted games. the game count (not including the set happening right then) was 70-70... yup, the game score was tied, so whoever won the set would win the match (because they would have two more games than us if they won 6-4... making it 74-76).

there were some long rallies, and i think i held my breath throughout the majority of the match, not wanting to breath and disturb the path of the tennis ball in the midst of its rally. it was then 6-6 and went to a tie breaker.... A TIE BREAKER!!! the entire match has come down to a tie breaker! can it get any closer?!?!? my heart was going... it was so crazy, i can't find words to describe the feelings that everyone was going through.

well, you know the outcome.... we won the tie-breaker and won the match, 10-8. golly! it was so close! i don't think there was any better way to win the undefeated-champ title. go girl's tennis!

Friday, October 21

7 down, one to go!

Well, the Valley Christian Girl's Tennis Team is still undefeated as of yesterday! We are now 7-0 in league and stand in first place. We have our last league match on this coming tuesday against Maranatha (who i believe are 6-1... having their only loss to us). The team has been doing well, and we are going for a clean record of 8-0. We will be going on to CIF as a team, so that is going to be awesome.

Also, a few days ago, i beat two of the three girls that i lost to in the first round of league matches. I am now 18-3 and hopefully in second place (the first place girl is crazy good... crazy good. She is on the maranatha team). So, i am hoping to finish out the season at 20-4... or maybe i can try getting this maranatha girl and be 21-3... haha, we will see on tuesday. But anyway, i am hoping for a good draw in league finals (where the top 8 singles and the top 8 doubles compete). Only the remaining two players from each doubles and singles go on to CIF... so it basically goes up to semifinals. If i can get seeded at number two, then i would be opposite the maranatha girl and wouldn't have to worry about playing her.

wow, lots of tennis stuf, eh? well, it's all super exciting, and it's only going to get more exciting!
i have to go now though... wilderness challenge trip this weekend at north of zuma beach in malibu...

tata

Saturday, October 15

keepin' it going!

well, as of thursday's match against connoly, our tennis team is still undefeated in league! we are 5-0 in league, and its going great... everyone is doing awesome! i am going to have to take some pictures soon, that way i can post them on the site.

well, today's the day i have my first "video gig." haha, i don't know what else to call it. I am video taping a wedding this afternoon, and i am getting payed to do it... so it's exciting. i got the gig through a recommendation, so i hope everything turns out okay. it didn't hit me until a few days ago that this is huge... you know, a wedding... it's an important thing. i can't make any stupid errors. could you just imagine me forgetting to press record... ya, that wouldn't go over too well: "well, um, can we do that again... i forgot to press record, and..."

but, ya, i have to find something nice to wear to the wedding... we all know that i don't own a dress (well, i do have my dress from winter formal, but that's not exactly wedding attire). i have a skirt, and i have worn it to every wedding that i have been to in the past few years (which is only a few, but it has been my designated outfit for weddings... so maybe i will just go with that).

yup yup, well, i gotta go

ta-ta

Sunday, October 9

been a long time

well, i just noticed (thanks to a friendly hint) that i have not posted in a long time... since september 26th to be exact. A lot has happened since then, so i shall fill you in with a few stories and pictures.

well first of all, lets see... I went to joshua tree last weekend for a thing called desert tabernacle... along with a few fellow church members, i did a 24 hour fast from noon friday to noon saturday. The time in Joshua Tree was amazing. We did a few hikes and did some devotions... I just love it out there. here are some pics:


















so those are some pics from joshua tree... the first one is of the sunrise on saturday morning, and the last one is part of the view i saw from a spot i sat at during my quiet time. it was amazing to see all of that in front of me... i was pretty high up.

now, for the next bit... this is probably going to be my favorite part of the blog. I am going to announce some great news... our girl's tennis team at VCHS is currently UNDEFEATED in league!!! yup, 4-0. there are 4 other teams in our league besides us, and we play each team once. on thursday, we were 3-0 and were playing against the only other team in our league that was undefeated, 3-0. so, whoever won that match, would make a statement and take over as 1st in league. so, we played against maranatha on thursday. it was a great match, and was a lot closer than the score shows (14-4). eveyrone played incredible and we pulled out the win! so yup, thats some great news... the team is doing awesome!

yesterday was a fun filled day... it was very long, though. i went for a bike ride to the beach in the morning with a friend of mine. i havent done that in so long, so i was glad i got to. i went to rei and hung out there for a while, walked around, checked out the clearance. then later i played some tennis with some teamates. after, i picked mieke and we went to the batting cages. i know, random, but it was a lot of fun. i brought the camera along and we had a lot of fun... there were no people in our section, so we messed around a bit. here are some pics:
we had a blast at the cages. mieke stuck to the slow pitch (softball) and i started there, but the softball fast pitch on cage over was calling my name. that was fun... i actually hit some decent shots of the fast pitch. mieke did some switch hitting, shes pretty good at that. the helmets were awewsome. they have holes in the back of them so that you can put your pony tail through it. they think of everything these days. so ya, we climbed around, mieke took a peek in the hole that all the balls roll into, and we took a picture of ourslelves right in front of the machine. it was not on, of course. we are not that crazy.
after, we went to chipotle... now that place has good food. i love their rice and guacamole. its so good. then we rented the movie robots (which is rather funny) and i fell asleep. by that time, jenny had joined us at my house. by the way, i had done all the driving yesterday with no adult in the car... my 6 months was up on thursday, and i can finaly drive my friends around. dont worry, i am very responsible about it :) but it was really nice to be able to just do something spontaneously (like going to the batting cages) without needing a parental unit to drive us and pick us up.
well, i am off to the gym and to play tennis!
hooroo