Girls tennis trumps Griffith

Cassidy Coyle and Jamie Zega

Girls tennis bounced back  for their home game Friday, April 25 with a win against Griffith. The win boosted the teams’ morale and helped them work on weaker plays.

“Going into the match I obviously felt confident because Griffith is just an okay team, but you have to keep your team up for it, so they don’t look past any of their opponents. We won it 5-0 on varsity, and we won 7-0 on JV. It was a pretty easy match, but if your team doesn’t feel a little bit of challenge, you have to work on things during the game to keep their focus. You know, they might surprise you,” varsity coach Bryan Szalonek said.

The confidence of the girls going into the meet not only boosted the team record, but their attitudes as well.

“Against Griffith I was pretty confident because I was with the partner I wanted to be with and Griffith isn’t a huge competitor, so I felt pretty confident.  I really try to focus with my warm-ups and get pretty consistent. I’m very happy with my performance in Griffith’s match. [The ending score] couldn’t have been better; it was 5-0, 7-0. We didn’t give up a game. They weren’t a super good team, so we focused more on not beating them, but making ourselves better during the match,” Emily Birlson (11) said.

Overall, the team has had a good season. This win was a great opportunity for improving their skills.

“The whole team performed incredibly well. They all won at their spots. We’ve had a good year so far. We have two losses; one to Valparaiso who is a state-ranked team and the other was a very close loss in a tournament,” Szalonek said.

Coach Szalonek was incredibly happy for the team, and proud of their concentration.

“We meet after every game whether it’s a win or a loss and go over some of the positives and some of the things we could work on. I was very happy, it was a Friday, and it was a bounce back match because we had lost the day before to Valparaiso, so we talked about how its good to not lose too many in a row and stay focused. You don’t want to dwell on a loss. It was good mentally for them. It was a great team win,” Szalonek said.