Girls' Tennis Still Undefeated With Huge Win Over Tabor

The girls’ tennis varsity A team continued its string of early season victories this past Saturday, defeating Tabor Academy with yet another overwhelming score of 7-2.

Though the team had defeated Tabor 9-0 last season, prep Taylor Jean-Jacques said that the team still needed to concentrate before matches began. "Although we had swept against Tabor last year, we had to stay focused because a few new players we had not seen before were on the team," she said.\

Lower Callan Malone agreed. "We beat Tabor last year 9-0, which was one of our two wins. We reminded each other that it’s a new season, however, and just as we are a new team, so are they."

Senior co-captain Nicole Yoon said that the team tried to use the match as a chance to reinforce work from practice. "We’ve been focusing on a lot of skills and strategies during practices, and Tabor is not one of our stronger teams, so part of our goals was to utilize what we’ve been practicing on," Yoon said.

Once the six girls got on the courts, including lower Helen Edwards who had been called up from the varsity B team to fill senior Anna Gruen’s spot, they found the conditions to be tougher than usual. With winds gusting up to almost 30 mph at times, weather was yet another opponent that the athletes had to face in their matches.

Although the weather provided a formidable challenge for many, Big Red was still able to pull off the quick win to keep their season record free of any losses. Among the big wins was that of #1 Jean-Jacques, who won 6-2 and 6-0, four games entirely on her own serves, and displayed her great balance of power and control on the courts.

Even on the doubles side, Exeter dominated, showing its prowess in every match. Malone and senior Giulia Olsson had the strongest victories against their Tabor opponents. Trailing at 1-2, Malone and Olsson were able to regain their focus and win the next seven games, coming off the courts with an 8-2 win.

Though the girls are off to a fantastic start, Yoon said that there are still certain aspects to remain cautious about. "Our team has been facing a lot of injuries, illnesses and recoveries, and that was another thing we were worrying about," she said. "I hope it disappears as we go into the season, so we can be really strong in the later matches where we play a lot of stronger opponents."

This coming Saturday, the team will face Andover at home for one of two games against their archrivals this season.