The Warren Central girls tennis team is competing with some of the best schools and is rallying to keep difficult meets competitive and hard-fought for the opposing team. All this is being done with zero seniors on the varsity team.
With there being no seniors on varsity, this will, ideally, allow for next season to live up to being more successful than past seasons. To those on varsity, this will mean a lot to their ego and competitive attitude.
“It means we are going to have a lot of experienced people next year,” sophomore Allison Jeffries said. “We are going to be able to be an even better team, and we can all have fun together for another year.”
Building bonds and connections within the team is a plus to all being able to return for another season. No one is graduating, and with luck no one is leaving the team. Because of this, the team should be able to build a vibrant and very positive atmosphere for the coming year.
“There are a lot of ways I bond with my teammates, just being able to talk about things outside of tennis, hitting and joking around,” junior Diana Cabrera-Lopez stated.
The girls tennis team is already a very close team, and there is no doubt that they will only grow closer as they continue to play more and more together.
“We love going and getting food together, or just hanging out during the school day,” sophomore Karsyn Asher said. “Also after practice, usually some girls stay and hit. We have such a good group of girls who just love to play.”
With the hope that everyone returns, this is also another chance for the team to play tougher against teams they play a lot. With many seniors on M.I.C. rival teams graduating, this could allow for Warren to have an upperhand in head-to-head matches.
“Next year is going to be our year,” Asher said. “Our biggest opponents are losing their best seniors this year while we are such a young team. It's very likely that we will do even better next year.”
Even though not everyone on other teams are graduating, returning with the same roster is a huge advantage for the Warriors as it gives them another chance to prepare and change the momentum in hard matches.
“We will have another year of experience against teams and have another year of practice,” Jeffries added.
Along with this, the team can capitalize on previous knowledge of what teams are good at and what they struggle with, allowing for a possible power shift in difficult match-ups.
“If all varsity players return, we just have to keep in mind what the other teams struggled with,” Cabrera-Lopez said. “It’s a huge benefit to us because we can attack those weaknesses that the other team had.”