As summer break comes to a close, it’s time for the girls tennis team to start training for another successful season. This year, the team has high hopes to improve their game as well as to form a community where everyone feels welcome. 

Head coach Betsy Jordan expresses what she wants to work on with the girls this season. 

“We’re going to be focusing on playing good doubles, lots of net play, work on the serves, but all in all, if we just have good sportsmanship, I’ll be happy regardless of whether we have wins or losses,” Jordan said. 

Even though the JV and Varsity teams met success last year, there are already challenges to overcome going into this new season. The team lost 10 players from both the varsity and JV teams combined, yet Sage Creek is still ranked fifth in the league. 

“This season is going to be an interesting one because we are in the toughest league, but we only have four players returning,” Jordan said. 

Despite the lack of returning girls, there’s a new generation of tennis players who are excited to fill those slots. Most of them are incoming freshmen. 

Freshman player Tyler Hindman is new to the game but eager to start playing.

“Something I’m looking forward to this season is definitely the matches, because playing in games is something that I’ve really never done before, and it’ll be a super fun experience to help me learn how the game works,” Hindman said. 

Not only are incoming players excited to learn the game, but they are also looking forward to connecting with each other and taking their relationships to a new level. It’s vital to work together to create a safe, fun environment on and off the courts. 

Returning sophomore Arianna Sharifi talked about her enthusiasm to bond and create close connections with the other girls. 

“I’m really looking forward to working with our team and getting to know each other better to build stronger relationships,” Sharifi said.

Creating strong relationships and acting respectfully towards one another is something that the girls do naturally on and off the courts. Coach Jordan believes that the team dynamic is really special and brings a sense of community to the competitive world of high school sports. 

“We have a lot of girls, and they’re all fantastic,” Jordan said. “They all have great personalities. I’m always amazed at how we can have thirty-five girls that get along so well.”

One of the things that brings the girls closer is the versatility of tennis. Sometimes the team is playing singles and other times, playing doubles. This aspect of the game creates a unique balance between working with a partner and playing alone. 

The girls switch doubles partners and alternate between singles and doubles every week, allowing the team a chance to work with everyone. 

“With tennis, it’s really interesting because we play singles and doubles, so we get to balance working with a partner and communicating while also building up your technique in a singles match,” Sharifi said.

Overall, the team is ecstatic to kick off the 2022-2023 season with a good chance of succeeding this year competitively. More importantly, the team hopes to continue to build one another up.