The varsity girls tennis team has won sectionals for the fourth year in a row!
Competing at Chicago’s De La Salle high school, the team included sophomores Alice Mihas, Mia Lapiere, Mia Banks, Talia Truska, and Lauren Pearsall, along with freshmen Annika Puri and Ava Cole. Captains, senior Anees Goparaju and juniors Phoebe Lembeck and Alyssa Batcheler, led the team.
After a big victory at the ISL Conference and a win against a class 2A championship team, these Romans were ready for their biggest competition of the year. At sectionals, the award for first place doubles went to Anees and Alyssa, and second place doubles went to Alice and Phoebe.
Although they have had many successful seasons, several varsity players said the 2020 season stood out for them. “The season this year was pretty different because we had busier schedules and no State Finals,” Alice said.
The IHSA cancelled the State Finals because of risks surrounding the COVID pandemic.
“We had two to three matches per week, whereas last year there was only one to two,” Alice said, adding, “Whenever we were off the court, we had to wear masks and socially distance ourselves, but otherwise, everything felt pretty normal.”
None of these new protocols prevented the team from playing their best. The only senior on the team, Anees, said, “The season couldn’t have gone better, especially during remote learning.”
There was definitely some fear within the team that there would be shifts in their season due to the pandemic, but they said they were able to stay mostly unaffected by it, while other sports faced many more changes.
“This season was insane compared to other seasons,” Alyssa said. “Me and my doubles partner, Anees, went undefeated and even beat the 2A sectional champion doubles team at Whitney Young.”
Next year, the girls varsity tennis team hopes to keep up their strong performance. The 2021 varsity tennis captains will be Alyssa, Phoebe and Alice.