The girls’ tennis team had a 8-0 record in Suburban League and then exceeded their goal of winning the Suburban League tournament.

The team went into the Suburban League tournament, which was rescheduled from September 21st to September 23rd due to weather conditions, in first place. Junior Claire Lifke won first place in third singles; first singles player Hayley Hendrickson, second singles player Nikki Henry and the first doubles team Anna Ling and Annie Taylor all finished in second place.

The team improved their ranking from fourth place last year to finish first this year. Kathleen Shisler, coach of 25 years, explained the help she received from others who contributed to a supportive team environment.

“I have a good assistant coach, Paul Fisher, and I have a lot of parent volunteers. I have a lot of people that make the team what it is,” Shisler said.

Shisler noted what she wanted the girls to improve on throughout the season.

“I hope for the girls to respect each other and develop leadership skills among them, and also to enjoy playing tennis, a sport they like,” Shisler said.

The team’s first singles player Hayley Hendrickson was “playing a lot more and is the most skilled” according to Shisler. Nikki Henry, a senior and one of the captains, played second singles. Henry began playing on the team her freshman year, but has played the sport for five years. She explained the positives and negatives of being a co-captain this year.

“Being a captain is very difficult, because there are so many things to do, but it’s also really fun because we get to pick what our sweatshirts look like and a lot of the younger members look up to us,” Henry said.

Henry says the team practiced a lot in the off-season, so they got better and bonded more. They had a team picnic, pool party, and went out to eat several times.

Anna Ling is a senior and also the co-captain of the team. She talked about why she was honored to be captain this year.

“I was really glad when everybody elected me captain just because I’ve been working really hard on this team trying to improve moods and keep everybody amped up about the matches that we play,” Ling said.

Shisler also mentioned she wanted to prevent accidents from happening to the team or any visiting team, so she had the tennis courts resurfaced over the summer.

“The courts were getting too slick and dangerous to play on…now they’re beautiful,” Shisler said.

The team also participated in the Making Strides breast cancer walk on October 20th. They finished their season with a 12-8 overall record and 8-0 in Suburban League.