Panther Tennis Trounces on PV?

Kyra McGath • June 11, 2025

The rivalry between Palos Verdes Peninsula High School and Palos Verdes High School has always been intense—the pressure to be better than the other school is overwhelming. On Apr. 1, the Peninsula varsity tennis team folded under the pressure, letting Palos Verdes beat them. But Peninsula wouldn’t let it happen again. On Apr. 21, the two rivals played again, and this time, Peninsula was determined to crush them, beating them with a score of 9(78)-9(74).

Tennis scoring can seem complicated, but it follows a clear structure. In high school tennis, a set is made up of games, and to win a set, a player must win at least six games. Each game consists of points that go from 15 to 30 to 40, and then the game point. If no points are won, it's called "love." If both players reach 40, it’s called “deuce,” and the winner must then take two points in a row—first gaining the advantage (ad-in for the server or ad-out for the returner), and then winning the next point to close the game. Players take turns serving each game, and they switch sides of the court every two games. Each set counts as one point for the team. If a set reaches a 6-6 tie in games, a tiebreaker is played to 7 points (win by 2), using simple scoring like 1, 2, 3 instead of 15, 30, 40. Players switch sides every 6 points in a tiebreaker, and the first server starts with one point before alternating every two. When varsity goes against a school, they play 18 total games, 3 singles players and 3 pairs of doubles teams from each school face off against their corresponding opponents. To determine which school won the match, you must count the number of sets won. In rare cases, if a match ends tied 9-9 in total sets, the overall winner is decided by counting the total number of games each team has won across all matches. Sophomore Matt Iwamoto believes that going 9-9 is frustrating.

“We were going to win, but we ended up losing the last set, so it went to a tie,” Iwamoto said. “I was frustrated that the second time we played [Palos Verdes High School] it went to 9-9 again. [But in the end] I’m happy we won. ”

During the tennis season, Peninsula and Palos Verdes face off twice. The first time they played each other was on Apr. 1, with each set consisting of long rallies, close scores, and high energy from both teams. Both schools fought hard, and after all 18 sets, the score was tied 9-9. It came down to the total number of games won—Palos Verdes edged out Peninsula by just three games, making the final score Peninsula 9(70) to Palos Verdes 9(73). Heading into the second match, Peninsula made some strategic lineup changes, putting some singles players into doubles and doubles into singles to try something new. On Apr. 21, they played again, and once more it was a tight match; in the end, both schools had ultimately won 9 sets each. The count of the games started again, but this time Palos Verdes fell short, leaving Peninsula the winner 9(78) to Palos Verdes 9(74). The whole team was excited by this win, not only because they beat their rivals, but because it would make them the ultimate winner, as they had won the most amount of games. When Coach Mike Hoeger was talking about the second match against Palos Verdes, he said it made the team stronger mentally.

“[Winning] did a lot for us, it gave us confidence, it gave us the rivalry win,” said Coach Hoeger. “But also it also put us in a good position to do well in the team tournament.”

Beating Palos Verdes didn’t just settle a rivalry; it also secured Peninsula the Bay League title by a single game and claimed their spot in CIF. The hard-fought win also elevated their CIF ranking to 5th, ahead of Palos Verdes at 8th. Showing how every game mattered, and that the team’s resilience and focus paid off when it counted most.

“I don’t really know what to expect going into [CIF],” Freshman Aaron Luo said. “I would imagine it to be harder than the schools we've already played, but I think it’ll be pretty fun and I’m going to try my hardest.”