Two days are done and dusted and I think we can all agree that today’s drop in temperature was a welcome respite (relatively, at least). Yesterday’s session featured an emphasis on the ins and outs of tie-breakers and the outsize role they can play in determining a match.

We also split into teams that will be competing for “Owl Points” throughout the remainder of camp. Coach Tristan’s team selected “Team Panda” while Coach Phillip Hick’s players used bits of his name to form the name “Team Phix.” The first Owl Point was awarded to Team Phix for most creative name, but Team Panda responded immediately with a win in the team serving competition by the narrowest of margins.

During morning warmups today, Team Panda took the lead with a decisive win in the “human knot” team-building exercise, showing that they are already building great chemistry as a unit.

Our Laguna campers thrived in this morning’s drill rotations, where we worked on serve-and-volley, grinding out tough baseline points, and finesse shots (slices, dropshots, and drop-volleys).

In the afternoon, Team Phix hosted Team Panda in an abbreviated high school format match. Despite strong performances from Grace Fuss and doubles pairing Alessa Somer/”Celeb” McKenna for Team Phix, Team Panda prevailed by an 11-7 margin.

John-Henry Schulz and celebrity partner Jason Barnick swept their doubles matches, Harrison Fell/Lucian Prinz picked up two, and the rest of Team Panda pitched in six more to bring their total haul of sets to 11.

After accounting for several other Owl Points won throughout the day, Team Panda now holds a 4-2 edge over Team Phix in the Owl Points competition. With 2.5 days remaining there are still lots of opportunities for both teams to add to their tally!