Carlmont girls' tennis the new bully on the block

The Scots have dominated the Bay Division through the first four matches of the season and they improved to 5-0 following Tuesday’s 6-1 win over San Mateo. Carlmont has lost only three points through the quintet of matches, beating Menlo-Atherton and Aragon 6-1, while sweeping Hillsdale and Burlingame, 7-0.

Carlmont’s only loss Tuesday was when the No. 3 doubles team had to retire because of illness, despite cruising to a 6-1, first-set victory.

“Last year, our team was really good. It was great to beat M-A,” said Chloe Khachadourian, Carlmont’s No. 1 singles player and a co-captain.

“This year, our team is even better.”

While the players had high expectations coming into the 2024 season, Carlmont head coach Margaret Goldsmith, like all good coaches, was not willing to count her chickens before they hatched.

“I lost five [seniors] in top-10 positions (from last season),” Goldsmith said. “I knew we were strong (coming into the season), but you don’t know.”

Goldsmith had a pair of four-year varsity starters returning in Khachadourian and Ashwika Narayan, who moved from singles to doubles this season. The Scots also returned junior Megan Bence, who is in her third varsity season.

Those were the known quantities. What Goldsmith didn’t know was that three freshmen would step into starting roles for 2024 and are not just happy to be there. Zoe Hendricks and Amelie Du Chau moved into the No. 3 and No. 4 singles spots, respectively, while Chloe Rui teamed with Narayan to form the Scots’ No. 1 doubles team.

“We got really lucky getting three (starting) freshmen in,” Goldsmith said.

While Narayan got the day off Thursday, Carlmont did not skip a beat. The four singles players lost a total of three games, with Hendricks posting a 6-0, 6-0 win.

The No. 1 and No. 2 doubles teams — Radhika Agrawal and Vania Pala, along with Bhavya Raman and Haeley Kwok — combined to lose just two games.

In all, the seven varsity matches were over in about an hour.

“Our singles are really strong. All four have weapons; great serves, good ground strokes,” Goldsmith said. “The doubles are communicating and finishing at the net. You have to put pressure out there (playing doubles).”

Carlmont got its first three points in quick succession — Du Chau won her match in 50 minutes, Hendricks came off two minutes later and Khachadourian needed 55 minutes to complete her match.

Khachadourian was poised to be the first one off, but up a set and leading 5-0 in the second, she dumped a game, forcing her to play one more. Khachadourian lost only a handful of points throughout her entire match, but she committed four alone in the one game she lost, including a double fault at deuce.

But it was only a minor delay.

Using powerful groundstrokes, Khachadourian was going for winners throughout the match against her overmatched opponent. It was her power game and the weak returns that actually cost her some points.

“I had to generate my own power, which is hard for me,” Khachadourian said. “But I’ve gotten better at it over the years.”

While she easily could have just hit back and forth with her opponent, Khachadourian, instead, was working on her game, going for angled winners from both her forehand and backhand.

“I’m definitely working on different angles — drops, slices,” Khachadourian said. “I was trying to hit more winners on the angles.”

Which is exactly what Goldsmith wants to see from her players. As the Scots have been winning their matches comfortably, Goldsmith said she wants her team to working on improving their game.

“We can always work on something,” Goldsmith said. “If you don’t do it during matches, you’ll never work on it.”

There are two matches remaining in the first round of Bay Division play and the Scots have already beaten all the teams that were expected to give them some trouble. As long as they can stay healthy, the Scots are the heavy favorites to repeat as Bay Division champs.

“We have a good chance to go undefeated,” Khachadourian said.

Added Goldsmith: “I think we’ve set ourselves up for a really good season. I told them, ‘Expect to be playing for a long time (this year).’”