The 2026 women’s tennis team poses for a photo during an early season event. Photo courtesy of Pirate Athletics Media
By Jair Guerrero Zambrano
The women’s tennis team has its best record in more than a decade as it gears up for the postseason.
Currently 12-4, head coach Steven Rochind said senior experience has been the key to their success.
“I got lucky,” said Rochind. “Cynthia Combs is very motivated to lead drills, and Zoe Robinson’s just a natural leader, and just mostly by example. She’s not loud, but she’s very respected.”
The seniors have also helped new players learn the sport.
“Almost all my freshmen are new to tennis, but what the older girls are telling the younger girls is, ‘This is how we did it,” said Rochind. “We went outside school, and we got private lessons, and we went to clinics at the various tennis clubs around here, played junior team tennis, and that’s how we got better.’”
Photo courtesy of Pirate Athletics Media
Chemistry is a factor in any team sport and one of the trickiest parts of a coach’s job. But Rockind said Robinson uses her experience to help bring cohesion to the team.
“Doubles is one of the things that’s always hard for a coach to figure out who’s gonna play with whom, because it’s a chemistry thing,” he said. Zoe is very involved in making sure that everybody plays with everybody so that we have a really good idea of who the best matchups are.
The Pirates travel to Cardinal Gibbons on Monday for the 7A Individual Pre-Regional Tournament, then end their regular season at Orange High School on Thursday. They will host the first round of conference duals on Oct. 12.
