The Girls Tennis team ended their 2023-24 season on October 9. Norwin Girls Tennis has been serving this whole season, and despite losing a lot of players to graduation in 2021, the team has bounced back. The Girls Tennis team finished with a 5-3 record in their regular season and 7-6 overall. The girls bounced back better than ever this season, finishing 4th in the section.
“I told the team we could have easily been 5-3 last year, but we didn’t possess the mental toughness it took to win tiebreakers,” said Toops. “The challenge this season was to overcome that, to be more mature as tennis players. They accomplished that this season, and I could not be more proud of my team this year.”
The girls team is one of the largest in recent history, with eight seniors on the team. Additionally, the team had multiple girls advance to WPIALS in both doubles and singles.
“Our team was the biggest it had ever been and felt truly like a team,” said senior Mary Mahoney. “Seeing my teammates advance so far into WPIALS felt like a proud mom feeling. You could feel that they were proud of themselves and that made me happy, because they truly worked for it.”
Along with setting records on the team, seniors Hope Kenney and Taylor Miller in doubles play went 12-1 for their regular season, leaving the best record on the starting varsity team. The key to the winning season for the two girls was to not push and pressure themselves too hard during their matches.
“I think that helped us keep winning, we never really had the goal of trying to be undefeated,” said Kenney.
“We had a fantastic season. We finished 4th in our section with a 5-3 record (7-6 overall),” said, coach Jeffery Toops. “Our strengths were the player’s experience, most had 4 years on the team. Our weakness was the occasional mental lapse- players sometimes find it difficult to forget about a bad shot they made and they relive it or let it bother them through the next few points. It’s a distraction. Ultimately we overcame that weakness enough times to have a winning season.”
With the continuous wins from the team, they made it to WPIAL Sectionals this year.
“This season is going well and our team made it to Sectionals which is a big win for us,” said Mahoney.
Double teams, Kenney (12), Abby Zula (12), Miller (12), and Cassandra Halaszynski (10) advanced to the WPIAL tournament. Along with singles players, Jenna Walko (12) and Sophia Lepore (11).
Both team captains, Kenney and Walko advanced to WPIAL’s this year. Kenney and Miller played Penn Trafford in the first round and won 10-8. But lost against the #1 seed from Franklin Regional.
“It was really rewarding, being able to organize things and lead warmups/drills,” said Kenney. “Also, being able to be such great friends with everyone on varsity and how close we were.”
Although it is sad to see all eight seniors go after such a great season, in the bittersweetness of it all, they helped set up and bring together a fantastic, record setting team.
