The Warren High School girls tennis team, which has just started its season, is a veteran group and hopes to regain the Gateway League title this season.

After dominating the league from 2020 (Spring ’21) to ‘22 winning three consecutive titles, Warren finished second to Mayfair last season.

The Bears are off to a 2-1 nonleague record, which includes a convincing, 14-4 win recently over the always tough La Serna Lancers. Their other victory was over El Rancho (17-1) and only loss was to Whitney (11-7).

It seems like a make-or-break season for the Bears, as they sport 11 seniors and only three juniors on the squad.

“My No. 1 through 3 singles and No. 1 through 3 doubles are very strong this year,” said Ray Trejo, who is in his fourth year as head girls coach at Warren.

As for that win over La Serna last week, Trejo said, “I wasn’t expecting a win when we went over there. I told the girls just to be competitive, but once I saw them warm up, I knew we had a chance to win. The girls made a statement.”

In those three consecutive championships, Warren lost only one match and that was to rival Downey in ’22. But the two losses to Mayfair last season ended that streak.

As for one of the teams’ goals, all three four-year veteran seniors (Jeilyn Rodriguez, Samantha De La Rosa and Madeline Saldana) all said when asked who their toughest competition was, “Mayfair.”

Saldana simply said, “Last year they took our league spot.” Echoed De La Rosa, “They knocked us off number one. We’re going to give it all we’ve got. We’re going to give it a good fight, that’s for sure.”

Rodriguez added, “We’re going to beat them.”

And finishing off the final goal, De La Rosa said, “We’re going to come out on top.”

Warren will play Mayfair twice this season, hoping to avenge last years’ two losses. They play at Mayfair on September 24 and host the Monsoons October 10, with a possible league title on the line.

Saldana: “We’re going to give it all we’ve got. We’re going to give it a good fight, that’s for sure.”

The Gateway League dropped one team and replaced it with another, after Gahr was moved to the Mid-Cities League and La Mirada was added to the Gateway.

Three senior veterans

Rodriguez, De La Rosa and Saldana know of the closeness of their team is a sign of success.

They lead the team and know their experience will help the chemistry this season.

“It’s a good dynamic we all have,” said De La Rosa, who is the No. 2 singles on the team. “We all practice together; we all rally together. It’s like a family we have built here.

“We’ve been on the varsity team since our freshman year, so we’ve been able to be a part of this family for such a long time. And we’ve kind of just built it.

“We are all individually going for our games, but on the outside, we are cheering each other on all the time. Even though it’s an individual sport, we all come together to show our support for each other even if we are off the court.”

Saldana echoed what De La Rosa said of their close nit team: “As she said, we all grew together.”

On coach Trejo and his coaching style, all three seniors agreed on his coaching style, kind of a tough love approach, with De La Rosa saying, “He’s supportive in our games,” she said. “He will walk around and not be set on one person, but he will go for everybody. He will shout words of encouragement even if the tone is a little stern, he is always there to support us.”

Rodriguez (5-4) is the No. 1 singles player, followed by De La Rosa (7-2) and No. 3 Saldana (5-4).

“I’ve been blessed to have them all four years,” added Trejo. “Those girls are very smart. In fact, both Saldana and De La Rosa have known each other since elementary school.”

The top three double teams are: 1. Camila Partida (Sr.)/Sofia Garcia (Jr.), 2. Melanie Ponce (Sr.)/Maylene Hernandez (Sr.), 3. Ivanka Ibarra (Jr.)/Jazmin Ponce De Leon (Sr.).

The doubles team of Partida/Garcia is undefeated so far with a 9-0 record, while the No. 2 team (Ponce/Hernandez) is 8-1, followed by No. 3 Ibarra/Ponce De Leon who is 8-2.

Assisting Coach Ray Trejo is his brother, Gabriel Trejo, who is the JV Coach.

Simply stating of his brother coaching the team, Coach Ray Trejo said: “It’s great.”

Both the Trejo brothers teach Math at Warren and started coaching basketball together at Roosevelt High School.

Coach Ray has been at Warren for 13 years and started as an assistant baseball coach under then head coach Scott Pearson.

Current Dodgers minor league player (Triple A Oklahoma City) and former Colorado Rockies major leaguer Alan Trejo, played under his dad, Ray. Alan Trejo graduated in 2014. A younger brother, David, also played for Pearson, graduating in 2021.

Gateway League action gets underway in two weeks.

It all starts in the second season (CIF Playoffs), November 6 and concludes November 15 with the CIF team finals at the University of Redlands.

Next match for Warren is Tuesday (September 10) against Pacifica of Garden Grove at Warren at 3:00 pm.

The remainder of the 2024 Warren team are seniors Mia Gonzalez, Raquel Hernandez, Jocelyn Llanes, Nicolette Mora and junior Jaylin Martin.

What they said:

Madeline Saldana, Sr.: “The way we all kind of work together, especially off the court, when one of us is the last one playing, the whole team will go and support.

We’re going to support each other through thick and thin. Just keep fighting and never give up. It sounds very cliche but we’re all fighters here. We all keep going. Even if It’s a tie breaker or its 6-1, we’re still going to keep going.”

Samantha De La Rosa, Sr.: “We are all individually going for our games but on the outside, we are cheering each other on all the time. Even though it’s an individual sport, we all come together to show our support for each other even if we are off the court.”

Jeilyn Rodriguez, Sr.: “He’s (Coach Trejo) really a strict coach. He tries his best to cheer us on. He’s also very loud in the games. He’ll shout out, ’come on, you got this or ‘get that shot in, do better.’”