Despite sending only senior Lauren Pinsky to the state tournament last year, the girls tennis team hopes the seven new team members, as well as three nationally ranked upperclassmen, will help the team maintain its county and regional title and gain the state title for the first time in three years.

Ending last season with a near perfect 11-1 record, the Bulldogs started off this season as strong as its last with a perfect 6-0 record.

“The first few games really foreshadow what is to come as it helps set our standards high for each match,” senior captain Ashley Lin said.

The Lady Bulldogs met those high expectations during the Walter Johnson match, Sept. 15 and the Blair match Sept 14. The team won both matches 7-0, which continued a seven-match winning streak. Pinsky finished her match against Blair in under 14 minutes.

“I think the WJ match went really well,” senior captain Danielle Mandir said. “WJ has always been a main rival; however, again, all of our courts won. [Sophomore] Lauren Perrine really stepped up and played four singles because [junior] Kendall [Heitzner] was hurt.”

Although the Bulldogs have not completed its placements, junior Laila Judeh finished her match against Richard Montgomery in consecutive 6-0 sets Sept. 10. With little resistance, the Lady Bulldogs pulled out a 7-0 shutout.

“For the Richard Montgomery match we all stepped it up because we had a couple of our top girls not present and we still won all the courts,” Mandir said.

Similar to their match against Richard Montgomery, the Bulldogs shut out Kennedy with ease, Sept. 7.

“We had a couple close matches, but we cheered each other on a lot and we won all our matches,” junior Laila Judeh said.

Despite Pinsky’s temporary absences—she was playing a national tournament—the Bulldogs started their first match against Gaithersburg with a 7-0 shutout, Sept. 3.

“I think we played really well in the Gaithersburg match,” Judeh said. “I think we have a really strong team this year and we will get along really well and encourage each other.”

Closing in on the halfway mark of the season, the Bulldogs are looking forward to matches against powerhouses Whitman and B-CC—the two teams with which they shared a three-way tie for the county championship last season.

“We are preparing by having inter-squad matches with each other,” Mandir said. “This [allows] the girls play one another and have them feel the pressure.”