Getting ready for the 2024 spring season, the Girl’s Varsity Tennis Team is prepared to take the court. This year, the girls only have five returning players out of a total of 19 players on the team. Mickey Mikesell is returning as head coach, with assistant coaches Lindsay Cahill and Mark Henderson.
“Since the coaches have so many years of experience, this definitely will be an advantage for us this season,” Sam Connor ‘24 said.
With the recent cold weather conditions, the girls aren’t always guaranteed to be able to practice. With the snow and even the rain, they aren’t able to practice on wet courts.
“We continue to focus and practice as much as we can even when the weather conditions aren’t ideal,” Connor said.
Leadership and dedication are very important for the team’s overall outcome. As the girls push toward the state finals, they must work hard to catch up and reach the same level as the other schools in the conference.
“As a team, we focus on being consistent and ready to play tough opponents. We also try to stay mentally positive even if we might be having a bad day on or off the court,” Lucy Houlihan ‘24 said.
Since they have a younger team this year, most of the roster has no varsity experience yet. Despite this, the underclassmen are ready to fill the spots left by last year’s graduated seniors.
“I don’t think the ratio of upperclassmen to lowerclassmen negatively affects our team, but a lot of us are just adapting to the difference between JV and Varsity,” Houlihan said.
The girls are excited for the upcoming season and have worked hard for the past few months.
“The team dynamic is super fun! We have a great time together while helping each other be better players,” Houlihan said.
The girls have already been getting along well, and they plan to maintain a strong team bond throughout the season.
“We always enjoy coming to practice and just being able to be together as a team,” Claire Jones ‘26 said.
With a fresh roster, the girls are looking to improve and continue to develop from last season.
