Gallery • 4 Photos

Elle Chen

The golden balloons and blue streamers that lined the tennis shack could, in no way, make up for the lack of spectators that should have been cheering the Girls Tennis team on as they competed their senior night game against Breck.

Blue tanks, white skirts. A swing then a swoosh. The windy fall weather felt just a little colder last night. The golden balloons and blue streamers that lined the tennis shack could, in no way, make up for the lack of spectators that should have been cheering the Girls Tennis team on as they competed their senior night game against Breck. The occasional “Let’s go Spartans” echoed across the seemingly empty courts, but nevertheless, the girls played with spirit and strength. With every hit, the players’ bodies swung with force, guiding their rackets to do the right things.

On one side of the courts were the doubles matches, played by senior Kate Hick and sophomore Leni Nowakowski; senior Annika Rock and sophomore Autumn Spawlding; and sophomores Anna Nowakowski and Naysa Kalvgdan. On the other side, the singles were played by junior Elizabeth Trevathan, junior Maggie Fields, senior Maya Choi, and sophomore Ali Browne. The red and white scoreboards displayed a variety of different numbers: 4-5, 0-1, 4-3, 1-2, each match carried on with its own pace. And unlike other sports, tennis matches are self-monitored; scoring is solely based on self-integrity, trust, and honesty. Each match consisted of at least 2 sets with an average of up to 6 games each.

Despite having a season record of 9-1 so far, the Girls Tennis Team faced strong competitors last tonight as they lost for the second time this season to Breck, 0-7. Nonetheless, the girls did not let a defeat bring their moods down. Choi said, “We did better than we’ve ever played against Breck so that’s honestly the best part yet. I made some mistakes and got a little impatient but it’s okay”

Spawlding also shared, “I think Annika and I played really well but we just couldn’t win the important points. So we got to a lot of deuce points but we just couldn’t put it away.”

After their hard-fought matches ended one by one, the team gathered together to celebrated senior night with lots of sweets and laughs. Kalvgdan also prepared a little gift for each individual senior: chocolate in delicately decorated tennis ball cans. And although a lot of team bonding, snacking, sleepovers and tennis traditions were cancelled or altered due to COVID-19 this year, Choi still enjoyed every part of her senior year on the team and senior game. Simply put, “ I liked it,” said Choi.

Look forward to the Girls Tennis team’s section games which begin next week.

Updated on October 21, for infographics.