The West High varsity tennis team enjoyed a successful weekend at regions in October, with junior doubles partners Andre Leif and Kristina Yu beating South’s Peyton and Walker Brown 6-1 and 6-2. Both Leif and Yu have been playing tennis since childhood, and both wish to continue playing tennis after high school.

While Leif and Yu are satisfied with their performances at regions, junior singles player Robbie Sedwick is not as he lost to Chugiak’s Riley Fugere. Even though he lost, Sedwick will still have a chance to redeem himself the following weekend during state, where his first game will be a rematch against Fugere. He hopes the match will go his way, and the pressure will be on him to make it happen. Sedwick knows that he needs to play better, he says the main thing he needs to work on before state is that he, “Needs to stop dumping so many balls into the net.”

As far as game preparation, Yu does not eat a pre-game meal, saying if she did, “Then I would throw up because of nervousness.” On the other hand, Sedwick has a pre-game tradition of eating at Taco King, which he has been doing since his freshman year. Leif and Yu enjoy playing with a partner rather than alone, as Yu says, “It is less nerve wrecking plus it is a lot more fun that way.”

Leif and Yu are happy with each other’s performances, and have built up plenty of chemistry as they have been playing together for almost three years. According to Leif, trusting your partner makes the game a whole lot easier, and a part of the two’s success this year is their exceptional teamwork, something they hope to keep up heading into state weekend. Leif and Yu are optimistic for state, and they hope to win by a large margin. They will be playing Wasilla’s Stoll and Cebrian.