Tennis team finding success at all levels

This week the women’s tennis team is wrapping up the junior varsity season, and the varsity is preparing for Regionals. 

Head coach Tara Sagers said, “In varsity we play six singles players and three doubles teams to earn points for the team. In JV they learned the scoring and playing to get experience, so the format is a little different to accommodate the number of girls based on courts available.  We try to get all the girls matches on JV.” 

The teams started practice the Monday after spring break. Holmes freshman Nadia Patel was able to play on the varsity team. “I have been doing tennis for a full year now. I started practicing and brushing up my skills over the summer before the 2021-22 school year, and then joined the varsity tennis team this spring,” she said. “Varsity practices 90 percent of the time occur at the UNI tennis courts, and if it rains, they will occur at the Black Hawk Tennis Club.” 

And of course there has been plenty of crazy weather this season. Patel said, “The weather this season definitely didn’t make tennis easy by any means. There were tons of rainy days, which caused a lot of our meets to be postponed. This caused a lot of our meets to be cramped toward the end of the season. I’m talking five meets a week.” 

Despite the crazy weather impacting the season, this spring has been very beneficial to the team. “The freshmen have learned a lot this year,” Sagers said. “I think they have done a great job embracing the game and learning fundamentals. So far the varsity team is 12 wins to 1 loss and going into the post season ranked No. 3. We have had a great year and are looking forward to the rest of the season.” 

Freshmen have also seen the season as a success. “I am incredibly proud of my teammates this year,” Patel said. “We have a fantastic team and coach Tara has been wonderful and very supportive. I will be sad to see the graduating seniors leave, but I am thankful for my time with them.” 

And Peet freshman Kaia Bartlett agreed that the team is very positive. “Tennis was a really good experience, and it let me get to know other people. I really liked how relaxed tennis is and how non-judgemental everyone is. I felt it was a good space where I could learn in my own time.”

The tennis season is almost over and the team will be starting up again next spring. Sagers encouraged any eighth grade through junior girls to try out next year. “Tennis is a great sport that you can play the rest of your life. Whether it’s competitive or learning for fun, it is a great activity. We like to really focus on learning the game and having fun.”