Girls’ tennis beats Minneapolis Southwest in close matches
Team’s mentality improves throughout its season
Junior Ava Jacobson serves the ball to her opponent Oct. 13. Park beat Minneapolis Southwest 5-2 in its second to last game of the season.
October 15, 2020
After the girls’ 5-2 victory against Minneapolis Southwest, senior Marissa Boettcher said the team made an excellent recovery following its unsteady start.
“I’m really happy with the result of our game. We were down at the start, we definitely made a really good comeback. I’m really proud of how we played,” Boettcher said.
According to head coach Abby Rose, the girls were struggling at the beginning due to distance learning during the school day.
“Everyone’s been sitting behind screens all day. Sometimes, that just takes it. You have an off-day, and it takes a little bit to get into your groove,” Rose said. “But especially with doubles, communication and playing with someone else is often dependent on getting (mentally) prepared.”
Junior captain Raquel Schlichting said since this was the girls’ penultimate match, they were focusing on fresh objectives that they worked on in practice.
“Before we’d go out and play, we’d each talk about what we’re going to work on during the match. Everyone was trying to work on new things today because it’s the end of the season,” Schlichting said. “We’ve been working on things in practice that we haven’t been able to use in a match until today, so that was awesome.”
According to Rose, this season has been unprecedented due to COVID-19, but the team has still performed to the highest of their abilities.
“At the beginning, we didn’t know if we’d get half of the season. We’re really lucky that we got a full season in,” Rose said. “Even though it looked different than normal, we were still happy to be able to play.”
Boettcher said for their last match, the team has to focus on its physical endurance. She said if they are able to do that, they’ll be victorious.
“(We need to) play strong all the way till the end. Sometimes, we get a little tired or a little bit lazy towards the end of our matches,” Boettcher said. “We are a good team, and we definitely have the skills to be successful.”
The final game of the season is at 4 p.m. Oct. 14 at home against the Academy of Holy Angels.
