Girls’ tennis beats Chaska 5-2
Park finishes season 6-5, prepares for Sections
Junior Raquel Schlichting makes an attempt to return the ball from opponent Oct. 1. Park will now prepare for its first Sections meet Oct. 6th
October 4, 2020
After Park girls’ tennis defeated Chaska in their regular season finale Oct. 1, coach Abby Rose said a major aspect that contributed to the win was focusing on the players’ mentalities, a focus the team has had all season.
“The mental game has probably improved the most,” Rose said. “The confidence of ‘Okay, I can win and we can win as a team’, has helped a lot.”
Despite winning her match, junior Ava Jacobson said she has struggled with her in-game mentality over the season and in her individual match against Chaska.
“This (match) was definitely not as good as some of my other matches. I got in my head a lot,” Jacobson said.
According to junior captain Raquel Schlichting, the key to having a good mindset is to focus on each point individually.
“Just look at every point in every game and every set with this stuff fresh start,” Schlichting said. “Forget about your last points and be able to readjust and refocus, and not worry about the past.”
Jacobson said despite the win tonight, the team as a whole could have performed better.
“This is a match that I think we could have won every match,” Jacobson said. “But instead, I was the deciding match, which I think we could definitely improve on, but it’s good that we won.”
As the team looks ahead to Sections, coach Abby Rose said the team has to focus on its fundamentals, as well as communication during doubles matches.
“Moving and working better with your partner, that’s definitely something that the doubles teams have had to work on and have grown a lot this season,” Rose said. “And then just placement and staying consistent and working your opponent so that you’re on the offense rather than on the defense.”
Schlichting said she isn’t sure how the team will perform against the tough competition in its section.
“It depends on who we play first,” Schlichting said. “Edina is in our section and they’re number one in state, so I know we’re not winning, but hopefully we can get in two or three matches.”
Rose agrees that the section is tough, however due to a modified season because of the pandemic, the team hasn’t gotten the chance to play some other teams in the section.
“We have a tough section,” Rose said. “It’ll be interesting because a lot of them we normally play a little bit in the season, but with COVID we didn’t. So it’ll be interesting to see, it’s honestly going (to) be a surprise.”
The team will compete in Sections 4:30 p.m. at home Oct. 6 against Bloomington Jefferson.
