If you believe the stat lines, or the school names, or the CIF seedings, you might think Lakewood’s girls’ tennis team doesn’t stand much of a chance against top-ranked San Marino when the Lancers welcome the undefeated team onto the campus courts at 1:15pm.  But then, realize, Lakewood “shouldn’t” have stood much of a chance in their previous wins, either—but they dug it out.

“There’s something about these girls,” says coach Lisa Busch.  “Normally at this point, the kids are tired.  It’s a lot of tennis, through preseason and league and playoffs—sometimes they’re drained.  But these girls still want to play—there was no quit in them [in the quarterfinals].”

San Marino and Lakewood have one common opponent to size each other up by—they both played Warren, and both defeated them by the exact same score.  But, Busch re-emphasizes, that doesn’t matter.  Nor does Lakewood’s underdog status, San Marino’s record, or their ranking. 

“That doesn’t matter unless you make it matter,” she says.  “Numbers, rankings, scores, what happened last year, or yesterday—it doesn’t matter what school you’re with, you have to play.”

Come back Thursday afternoon to find out how the Lancers did!