Girls’ Tennis Takes Third in Tournament

Girls’ Varsity Tennis embarked on a long journey to compete in the Villafranca Tournament at Kent this weekend. They left on Friday afternoon and returned late Saturday evening. The team battled hard throughout the long day and ultimately took home the third place trophy.

The van ride, originally scheduled to last four hours, turned into a nearly six-hour-long trip. However, the team made it enjoyable nonetheless. “If I have to be stuck in a car for at least six hours, I’m happy it’s with them,” upper Tia Stockwell said.

The time-consuming commute to western Connecticut was virtually impossible to complete in a day, so the team spent the night at the Holiday Inn — an experience that resulted in the creation of valuable memories for the players who went. “It was a good bonding experience the night we all shared a hotel room,” upper Mimi Lavin said.

Of the four players who donned the Big Red uniform, Lavin and lower Emily Baxter played singles while Stockwell and senior Isobel Anderson took care of the doubles matches. “Isobel and I won our first match again Rye in the morning, where we both played very well,” Stockwell said. “Potentially some of the best tennis we’ve played all season.” The pair then went on to face off against the Loomis Chaffee School where they lost after a close match.

This didn’t stop these two from continuing on to the main draw in the afternoon to play Andover. Unfortunately, after the Big Red double team put up quite the fight, Andover still stood victorious at the end of the match. Stockwell felt that despite what the score may have been, the matches were still a success.

Meanwhile, Lavin and Baxter were also putting on an impressive show. Baxter started the day off strong and showed no signs of slowing down as the day progressed. The tennis powerhouse won match after match and worked her way up to the final match, where, although she was eventually defeated, she was still able to snatch the runner-up singles title for her team. “The teams we played were pretty tough,” Baxter noted. “I was happy to make it that far.”

Lavin also performed exceptionally well, making it all the way to the semifinals before she too fell to the stiff competition. “I think we probably would have come out of the Loomis match with a victory on almost any other day,” she said. The tournament setup was different than anything the team had ever seen, but “we all still enjoyed cheering each other on and working to play our best,” Stockwell added.

Although the team may have not gotten the results they were hoping for, the team left feeling that they had played their best and with an even stronger thirst for vengeance on Andover. “It was disappointing to lose to them,” lamented Lavin, but the team will have their chance to come back one last time during E/a.