Late in the afternoon on Friday, 20th November, both the boys and the girls arsity tennis teams traveled to Singapore to gain more experience, and learn about the strengths and weaknesses of the other IASAS teams.
The boys team did exceptionally well, starting the pre-IASAS exchange on Saturday with a 5-0 win over ISKL. Later in the tournament, they had a tough match against JIS, and in the end, the score was 3-2 in favor of JIS. The boys head coach Joel Lobland stated, “JIS was a really good team. However, we were really close. We won both the doubles but ended up losing all the singles.”
As the boys continued throughout the tournament, they had the opportunity to play against the United World College team. Although they are not a part of IASAS but they joined in as the boys’ team were playing at their court. In the end, the United World College team beat ISB with the final score of 5-0.
The final match took place early in the morning of Sunday, November 22 against SAS. Coach Lobland shares that the team did very well and ended up beating SAS 4-1.
The girls team, even though have five freshmen, are “very strong” as stated by varsity girls coach Marion den Hartog. The girls first faced ISKL on Friday and won 3-2. Coach Marion shares that “for me, the scores are not really important. I just wanted to see how well each player handled each position to prepare for IASAS.”
The girls second game took place the following day. They faced JIS in a very close match but in the end, the score was 2-3 to Jakarta. Later on, they play against SAS and SAS had beat them 4-1. However, coach Marion believes that if they were to play the same teams a few months later, the games would be closer and they would have a higher chance of winning.
This exchange was a great preparation for the upcoming IASAS tournament. It is also a great experience for the teams to get a taste of what IASAS will be like while gaining some confidence and also a sense of what they should work on to be ready for IASAS.
Jeff M
