![Junior Diya Arun stares out a window. For Arun, the winter season brings out the holiday blues. “ I think [the winter] has a negative effect on my mental health because I feel like the cold weather and people around me are also sadder [and] that affects me,” Arun said.](https://theblazerrhs.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG_8047-1200x800.jpg)
![French teacher Marieme Toure serves a plate of the Senegalese food she prepared for her AP French Language and Culture class, to senior Faiza Syed. “I never had Senegalese food before,” Syed said. “I thought it was so cool that she was able to bring a part of her culture [and] background to us.”](https://theblazerrhs.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG_0798-1200x906.jpeg)
![The Phoenix varsity volleyball team lines up for the national anthem. “We were more communicative [with each other] during this game, and I feel like we kept our energy up, especially after the first set,” senior Jessica Valdov said.](https://theblazerrhs.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/DSC_0202-1200x800.jpg)
Battle of the Birds: Phoenix Triumph in Tennis
On March 22, the Phoenix boys tennis team went up against the Briar Wood Falcons. The Phoenix won with a final score of 6-3.
Senior Arjun Vangala serves the ball during his singles match, with him in the lead at 3-1. “We knew we were playing up, so we were a little scared at the beginning,” Vangala said, “but then when we started hitting the ball and playing our game, we started to really go toe-to-toe with them.”
April 13, 2023
After a win against the Loudoun Valley Vikings a few days before, the Phoenix boys tennis team tested their skills against the Briar Wood Falcons on Tuesday, March 22.
In the first half of the match, the Phoenix took a strong lead in singles, winning 5-1. Despite the win, the boys felt that they could make improvements for future matches. “I definitely think we can be more aggressive from the baseline in singles,” freshman Akash Vangala said.
After their strong performance in singles, three doubles matches took place. During this contest, the Phoenix’s number one ranked player, junior Kaushik Muskari, was not present at the game. Therefore, the boys had to adapt and change their regular teams for doubles. “We kind of had to move up everybody [since our number one player wasn’t there],” senior Arjun Vangala said. “It was a different challenge and it was something we weren’t used to, but I feel like we coped with it well.”
As part of the adjustments, Arjun Vangala played doubles with his brother, Akash Vangala. “I play with him (Akash) normally,” Arjun Vangala said. “When we win, we’re really good to each other, but when we’re losing, we get extremely frustrated with each other and we just have to find a way to channel that toward our opponent instead of fighting amongst ourselves. I’ve known him for his whole life, and I know ways to motivate him and he knows ways to motivate me and we just work together well.”
In the end, the Phoenix lost two doubles matches and won one, bringing the final score to a Phoenix win of 6-3.
As the second home competition of the 2022-2023 spring season, the players feel like they have been adjusting well to the new team. “I’ve known these guys for a long time because of my brother, so I didn’t really have a difficult time adjusting,” Akash Vangala said.
The Phoenix’s next home match was on March 29 against the James Wood Colonels.
![On Friday, Dec. 20, the varsity Phoenix wrestling team embarked on a two-day tournament against 32 other high schools spanning from Loudoun County to other states. This year, Rock Ridge High School hosted the highly anticipated tournament and decked out the main gym for the occasion, donning six full-sized wrestling mats with the Phoenix logo and clearing out space for coaches, managers, and administrators alike. Every open seat in the stands was filled with family and friends of the players, making a lively environment for the players.
King of the Rock started at 4:00 p.m. and lasted until 9:00 p.m on Friday. Every player on every team had the opportunity to go up against another player for three rounds, with each of them lasting two minutes. The preparation for this has gone on since the beginning of the season in their practices, and their previous meets have been leading up to this specific tournament. “During practices, I’ve been doing a lot of conditioning [and] making sure my body is [as] healthy as it can be,” junior Julian Serna said. “I’ve been doing [all] the moves and techniques our coaches are telling us to do, [too].”
The second day of King of the Rock started at 9:00 a.m on Dec. 21, and ended at 3:00 p.m. South Carroll High School in Sykesville, Md. took the win for the entire tournament. Juniors Nathan Martinez and Elijah Whitfield both placed sixth in their individual weight classes, bringing in a win for the Phoenix.
✏️ and 📷 by Maya Coleman, Bella Gerardi, and Sophie King](https://theblazerrhs.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)