Girls varsity tennis serves up a great season

It takes a perfect blend of both talent and experience for a team to be successful; luckily, the girls’ varsity tennis team has that and more. After finishing 16-3 overall, going undefeated in the conference and winning the conference tournament, the team’s next goal is clear: winning a district championship.

After becoming co-champs of the conference with Medina and only sending one player to districts last season,, the team has undoubtedly improved in almost every facet since– most notably in their depth.

“All of us played a lot over the off season to up our game from last season,” said co-captain of the varsity team Lindsay Blashka. “We got a lot of new, young players which also helped a bunch.
We gained an incredible first singles girl (Maggie Yang) and a super great second doubles (Ani Atluri and Amanda Weiskind) team who really helped to give us the win in a lot of our matches.”

Blashka, one of the team’s vocal leaders, graduates after this season, so passing the torch to the team’s underclassmen is of the utmost importance. According to Blashka, being a part of the team is not something that anyone should take for granted.

“I want all the younger players to make the most of the time they have on the high school tennis team,” Blashka said. “The four short years go by so quickly and I want them to cherish every win and every moment they get to spend on this awesome team.”

Despite losing a substantial amount of leadership after this season, the team will be able to grow with their young core of new players. Yang, a freshman at SHS, broke out for an incredible season in which she won the conference in first singles and will be headed to districts.

“It was definitely one of the best times of my playing years,” Yang said. “I’m most proud of the positivity and support [we had for each other] for the majority of our season. I think the team bonded well together and the times spent together [were] enjoyable and fun. Being around for laughs and encouragement kept the team going and we learned through each other to better our games which led us to our eventual success.”

Aside from the players, leading the team was none other than their coach, Linda Fox. As the team looks ahead to competing in districts and potentially even states, Fox is adamant that the team does not rest on its laurels or become complacent during this final stretch.

“The team needs to remain focused on playing well; staying in each point, following the instruction and strategy [that I] offer, and committing to be the [team] that wins the match,” Fox said. “I am confident our players will continue to win if they continue to focus on each point and stay motivated.”

While this season has been no cakewalk, districts provides the greatest challenge yet. However, Fox notes that it doesn’t mean the team can stray away from basics.

“The pressure for a Solon sports team is to represent their school, their families, and themselves well,” Fox said. “We need to model good sportsmanship and be hard workers every day in academics and on the tennis court.”

In years past, the girls varsity squad has never faltered in producing a winning team that the school can be proud of. However, such an astounding regular season record proves this year’s team to be just a bit different. Great skill and excellent coaching are key for a team to contend for a state championship, but there’s one intangible ingredient that previous teams didn’t quite have as much of as this one does: camaraderie.

“We are just a much tighter knit group this year,” Blashka said. “We’re honestly all friends and that makes being a part of the team so much more fun.”