Despite a tough season last year, Diamond Bar High School’s girls tennis are working  to overcome multiple bumps in the road, which include a current preseason record of 1-2 and adjusting to a new head coach.

Alexis Feix, who assumed the head coach position after coach Tisa Shavers retired from the post, played varsity tennis for Ayala High School. She hopes her  experience can be put to use to help  create better strategies for the Lady Brahmas.

“I’m hoping to refine their skills, I have new strategies for the doubles team that we’re really working on, trying to implement coming up to the net more,” Feix said. “They’ve been training every day after school for hours and the girls are giving it their best effort and I appreciate that.”

In the girls’ first non-league match against El Dorado, No. 1 doubles team, junior Angeline Cheng and junior Amy Xia, dominated in all three of their sets while No. 3 doubles team, senior Leighanna Delano and freshman Lindsay Kashiwabara, won one set. Sophomore Jaida Wilson also won two sets in singles.

However, the team still lost to  El Dorado, 12-6. Against Mark Keppel, sophomore Ellie Delano and junior Hanna Conover won all three sets in doubles. Wilson also won three sets in the game against Mark Keppel while the rest of the team captured at least one set, resulting in a win, 13-5. However, the ladies lost against Glen A. Wilson last Friday with a score of 7-11.

“Win or lose, everyone from the team will definitely improve after their games from learning their mistakes or weaknesses. No one is perfect and can play in the right form all the time, pressure is definitely a factor and as a team, we try to work with pressure rather than fear it,” senior Katelyn Nguyen, who is captain of the team, said via Facebook.

Unlike previous years, this year’s team consists mainly of underclassmen. Feix uses this to her advantage, focusing on the underclassmen so that they can maintain a strong foundation after the seniors leave.

“The thing that blows me away about them is that they are the best group of girls to one another, beyond my expectations of what a team could be. I really admire the way they treat each other,” Feix said.