By Ariana Chaudhry 

“I’m proud of the work each player put in to improve and how eager players were for challenge matches,” said Laura Overbeck, head coach of the tennis team.

The middle school girls tennis team finished with a total record of seven wins and seven losses. There were two coaches this season: Laura Overbeck and Stuart Clemens. The team had a total of ten players, nine eighth graders and one seventh grader.

Noor Arif and Avery Wang were the team captains.

Being the only seventh grader on the team, Charlotte Ahn said, “The hardest part was trying to make a friend because there were no other seventh graders on the team.”

Although she adjusted very well because she said the easiest part of the season was “getting to know everybody because everybody was really nice.” Besides being the one seventh grader, Charlotte had the best overall record with only one loss out of all fourteen matches she played.

The hardest part of the season for other players was different. “There were a lot of coaches and opponents who were not very kind to us,” Amrutha Juluri said. “[They] didn’t show very good sportsmanship,” Devu Bandinani added. 

Losing was also a very hard part of the tennis season, and the team did have an equal number of wins to losses, so it happened frequently. “It ruins your morale and your spirit,” Noor Arif stated.

Coach Laura said, “The hardest part is watching a player have a bad day. It’s part of the game. There is always a winner and loser, but when you know a player is off it’s hard.”

Although there were downsides to the season, there were also a lot of upsides. The team overall got runner up in the season tournament barely trailing behind Cardinal Pacelli.

Amrutha Juluri was runner up for first singles. Noor Arif placed runner up for third singles in the tournament. Ariana Chaudhry and Lily Fraser were the champions of second doubles.

Every player improved in their serves and backhands by the end of the season. They all started to begin to hit stronger and more angled shots. “I think everybody’s serves improved after playing the first couple of matches,” Amrutha Juluri said. 

According to all the players, their favorite memories from the season were the van rides, the on-campus party, the tournament, and the main event outing.

At the end of every practice, the team would play a game called Queen of the Court, kind of like the game HORSE in basketball. This was also a team favorite.

‘‘This was a great season,” Coach Overbeck said. “There was healthy competition but each of them knew that the main persons they were competing against was themselves and improving their own game.’’