Girls’ tennis loses first match to Benilde
Benilde sweeps season opener
Junior Raquel Schlichting uses a backhand motion to hit the ball to her opponent Aug. 26. Park lost all of their varsity matches to Benilde-St. Margarets.
August 30, 2020
According to coach Abby Rose, despite a 0-7 loss, she is still satisfied with how her team performed Aug. 26, and is looking forward to the season ahead.
“Even though the score doesn’t necessarily reflect it, it was a good match,” Rose said. “We get to play BSM two more times this season, so we’ll be learning and adjusting.”
According to senior captain Abby Meyer, the loss against Benilde was still a hard-fought match.
“We played Benilde’s expectations against them,” Meyer said. “They thought that they were going to come in and absolutely destroy us, but we let them hit their shots too far, and we stayed level headed.”
Rose said, the team, which only had a week and a half of practice before their first match, is still adjusting to the new season in a variety of ways.
“Not everyone has played together with doubles, so it’s definitely a learning curve for everyone,” Rose said. “We lost a few seniors last year, so everyone is rising to the occasion and they did a really good job.”
Freshman Madeline Anklam said that although the game was a blowout, she’s still proud of the teamwork she’s witnessed as a new member of the team.
“We played well together as a team,” Anklam said. “Anyone could be matched together as doubles (partners) and still do well.”
Meyer acknowledged that the new year brought a lot of young faces to the team such as Anklam, a prospect that excites her as captain.
Anyone could be matched together as doubles (partners) and still do well.
— Madeline Anklam
“Our team is fairly young, we have a lot of new freshmen and some sophomores. I’m looking forward to helping them and seeing them grow and get better,” Meyer said.
This season was also unprecedented for the team as it was the first time they were playing amidst a pandemic, which threw a wrench in team bonding plans, according to Rose.
“Typically it’s really easy because we can do activities together, but with COVID, it makes it a little bit harder,” said Rose. She went on to say that the team is still trying their best to bond with each other via “COVID-friendly, outdoor, distanced activities.”
The team’s next match takes place at 5 p.m. on Sept. 1 at Chanhassen High School.
