Dougherty Valley won in their first NCS round, 7-0, against Encinal High School, on Nov. 6.

Senior co-captain Katelyn Eng dominated against Analin Gentz from Encinal 7-6, 7-2, and 6-1.

According to Eng, her consistency and mental toughness are her strongest weapons that she uses to beat her opponent.

“In this game my mental toughness was extremely lacking so I made sure to slow down and go back to the basics to get my rhythm back,” Eng said. “Also, my opponent was a lefty, which was hard to adjust to, but she was a lot less consistent than me.”

Senior co-captain Ananya Gupta and junior Mahek Karamchandani defeated Olivia Grassman and Jyosna Jaslow 6-0, 6-0.

“We struggled being positive when we lost a point because the match was really intense and we felt a lot of pressure in the heat of the moment,” co-captain Gupta said.

Yet victory was theirs because of Karamchandani’s strong serve, both of their rapid volleys, and their ability to rally for a long time.

The team cleared the first round against Encinal by winning every single match.

However, they couldn’t reach the semi-finals since they were defeated in the quarter finals of the tournament by the Red Tailed Hawks 4-3 in a home game on Nov. 8.

Junior Jasmine Lam lost 6-3, 4-6, and 3-6 against her opponent. By taking advantage of her opponent’s weak shots and trying to be consistent, Lam was able to win the first set but lost the last two.

“I felt that I could have been more agressive with my shots. I felt like my mental was not completely intact while playing the the third set and I hesitated on a lot of shots. Next time, I just want to play my game and have more confidence in myself and my game play,” Lam said.

The Wildcats have ended their season with an overall score of 15-4 and a league score of 15-3. The team played each school twice during the league tournaments.

“A highlight of this season would be being undefeated second time around, which means we beat every single school at least once,” Gupta said.

This season, along with the league matches, the Wildcats got a chance to play at the Standford tournament and in NCS.

“I [am] proud of my team and [its] accomplishments. Everyone deserves a shoutout because everyone on the team is so hardworking,” Eng said.