The women’s tennis program at McNicholas High School has grown in the past few years with enough players for both a Varsity team and two Junior Varsity (JV) teams in the 2023-24 season. The team this year is composed of mostly beginners and some veterans. The coach wants every girl to have the opportunity to both play and improve.
The strategy this year is to accommodate the growth with Varsity going to all practices and matches with the JV teams. JV is broken up into both a JV A and a JV B team to provide as much playing time as possible for all the girls on the team.
“Since there is only one senior this year, the season is developmental for the underclassmen,” John McCarthy, head coach, states.
With only one senior, the coach’s focus is helping every player improve this season so the upcoming will see more success. During the games while Varsity matches, JV plays exhibition matches.
Exhibition matches do not count toward the record but are against other schools to provide real game play. These resemble official matches in scoring and rules so beginners can prepare for competitive match play.
Although there are many good outcomes to the new team, there are also some downfalls. One of the main flaws of the season this year is the playing time in match play.
“The playing time is not equal as it used to be,” sophomore, Anna Dugan, states.
Agreeing with Dugan, McCarthy states, “It has been challenging to balance the players and playing time, but we have been able to make it work.”
Since Varsity goes to all practices and matches, the playing time is not always fair or equal. The coaches are doing their best and divide up who plays what match along with who goes to what practices.
“Being the only senior on the team has been pressure full but also brought good memories,” senior, Annabelle Dugle states.
Like many other sports, tennis is one of the ways students meet new people. Since tennis is played in the fall, there are practices during summer that especially help incoming freshmen to meet and bond with their classmates before the school year starts.
“It has made a positive impact on making new friends and meeting new people,” sophomore, Maggie Martin states.
The players and coaches are putting in hard work into making this season a success and are hopeful of boosting the women’s tennis community even more.
Women’s tennis has their end of the year tournament starting on October 3, 2023.
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