Recently, many fall sports wrapped up their seasons, culminating in finals and celebrations of their hard work. One such team was the girl’s Tennis team, whose season of hard work, which started in August, concluded at state last week. The Southwest tennis team has three teams: Varsity, JV, and B squad, which are each made up of around 20 kids each, excluding varsity, which has just twelve. Each team is a good example of a place where community is leading to an environment that uplifts and supports each other’s successes. This is shown throughout the season as the team participates in activities such as fundraisers, bonding events, and matches.
When preparing for the season, beyond practices and hard work, something that is emphasized is how to cultivate that sense of community. This year in particular the Varsity team started off with a trip to the cabin, helping to bond them together. Work hard play hard? In addition to cabin trips, the tennis season is full of team sleepovers and after-practice hangouts. What’s truly unique about tennis as a sport, is there is an opportunity to play side by side with your teammates in a style called doubles. In doubles, two players on a team compete against an opposing pair and rely on each other to secure a victory. A good example of this is Georgia Gleason (‘26) and Eliana Brown (‘27), who, even after losing in sectionals, had nothing but compliments towards each other. “Although losing in individual sections was not the perfect way to go out, I had a blast playing with my favorite doubles partner, Eliana Brown,” Georgia stated, adding that “with the support of my team behind me, we closed out a powerful season together!”
Sectionals was the finale of the tennis season, and a way for the players to show off the hard work they had put in so far. Sectionals are a tournament style set of games, on October 9th, starting with quarter finals and working up to finals with the winners going to state. The team showcased their community throughout the tournament, with Ellen Davis (27) saying “Sections was really fun! This year our team had a really good vibe. It was so sweet of them to come and make signs for us during the semi finals.” Juniors Lila West and Ellen Davis both made it to the semifinals, a highly impressive feat. After coming off the courts West discussed sectionals, stating “I am really proud of how I played this match and the season overall. This team is so supportive and I am so happy that they came and watched each match!”
One person who stands out on the team and is a great example of what it means to be a Southwest tennis player is Ellen Davis. Davis has been on the Varsity tennis team since seventh grade and has spent her years on the team growing as both a player and a teammate. This year was Davis’ first year as team captain and she has spent the season running captain practices, putting together carwashes, leading team warmups, and supporting her team both on and off the court. She has been an example for others on the team, especially the youngest who take after her as seventh graders on varsity. Along with her strong leadership, Ellen is also a highly skilled tennis player. She has been playing singles on the team for 3 years and this year held the longest winning streak on the team. Ellen was given the first seed so she got a bye for the first round, and in the quarter finals she pulled out an easy win of 6-0, 6-0. In the semifinals she faced off against Blake and pulled another easy win of 6-2, 6-0, bringing her to the final round of sectionals, which would determine if she qualified for state.
In finals, Davis played Blake, competing against Sienna Szerda and in a tantalizing match pulled out a win of 6-4, 6-2, which advanced her into state for the first time. Going into the match as the third seed Davis was playing for either first, second, third, or fourth place. If she won her first match she would play for first or second, if she lost she would play another one for third or fourth. Playing against Elizabeth Payne in her first round she fought for her title and pulled out with a close loss of 6-1 and 7-5. However, her fight wasn’t up yet and she won her next match in a tiebreaker set 2-6, 6-3, 10-8, ending her journey at state with third place. When asked about how she felt about this accomplishment she said, “I was a little bit nervous but also really excited because I’ve never experienced this before. I’ve been practicing a lot and had a lot of fun and I think I did well!” No matter what place she would have gotten, the team was behind her every step of the way, showing her what it means to be a Southwest Laker.
Throughout the regular season, sectionals, and even state, the tennis season was one filled with success. “Being a captain this season has been a great honor, I have greatly enjoyed both the on court representation that I can give my team, and the offcourt responsibilities that allow our program to thrive in its fullest.” Says captain Georgia Gleason, adding that “With my co-captains Ruby Pereira (‘26) and Ellen Davis (‘27), I believe we have created a warm and inviting environment that will be supported by the captains next year!” This season has been great and we can’t wait to see what next year brings them!
