This fall, both the boys’ and girls’ tennis teams rallied against Pace and Wesleyan in the playoff finals to secure championship titles. The girls finished the season 9-1 while the boys closed their season out with a record of 11-0.
8th grader Reno Harrison led the team as a key player on the team throughout the season. His resilience was apparent as he powered through tough matches. “Reno always took one for the team and sometimes played some players that were much stronger, but he held his ground all the time and pushed a lot of the top players really down to the wire,” says boys’ tennis Head Coach Celia Pashley.
On the girls’ side, Head Coach Jennifer Speir notes that 8th grader Campbell Bartlett excelled as both a player and a teammate. “She was really supportive of other players, and if she lost a challenge match, she still tried the next week and played whatever position she was in,” she says.
Despite the both teams’ impressive skill, team spirit also fueled their success.
Before every game, the boys chanted: ‘Cats on me, cats on three! Un, deux, trois, allez!’ Since they started using this cheer last year, the boys’ team has not lost a match. Additionally, a new ritual began for them this season: rubbing 7th grader Nicholas Jones’ head for luck.
The boys agreed that they felt more like a family than a team. 8th grader Ian Park says the team was constantly cheering each other on and celebrating excessively after every win. “I feel more confident during in-school tennis because I am on a team, and I feel more like a part of the school.”
For the girls, the team connected not only on the court, but off as well. Speir recalls that students from both the 7th and 8th grades created thoughtful gifts and awards for each other at the end of the season. “Each 7th grader had made a poster for each 8th grader, given them candy, and blown up pictures of them playing on a poster, saying, “Good luck in Upper School!”
The girls all attested to the deep bond created over the course of the season. 7th grader Jacey Zhou says that the team environment was always uplifting. “We encouraged each other anytime we could, and we always stayed positive and. . . kept good energy.”
Goalwise, the boys aimed to win a back-to-back championship. They ended up achieving this goal thanks to collaboration and intense practices. “The biggest goal was to win back-to-back championships because we had won last year and we were not seeded to win,” Pashely says.
One of Speir’s objectives for the girls’ season was to focus on new doubles strategies. “Our top [seeded] girls play a lot of singles tournaments outside of school, so this was a time for them to try out some new ways to be on the court.”
Additionally, the introduction of weekly challenge matches benefited both teams. Every week, team members played the person ranked above or below them to determine their position in the roster. Rankings were shifting constantly as the players struggled against their teammates to maintain their place on the team. “This made it tougher, but we were each other’s competition,” Speir says.
Next season, Speir wants to focus more on fitness. She believes that implementing agility training into practice will increase players’ endurance and allow for them to return more shots, therefore improving their overall performance.
Both teams also agree that they want to concentrate on maintaining school tennis as a team sport rather than an individual one. Pashley says that players used to consider tennis as solely an independent game. “I’ve been really trying hard to keep that team mentality in this individual sport, and that’s something that I want to keep growing and to keep having as this big idea in tennis.”