Co-Captain Lena Ciganer-Albeniz ’24 leads Girls Tennis as a teammate above all else, prioritizing her teammates’ well-being. As a leader, Ciganer-Albeniz takes initiative, organizing team bonding events off of the court, as well as constantly providing support, urging her teammates to do the same for each other.
According to Ciganer-Albeniz, tennis players often try other sports and come back to tennis because they like it best. She shared that the reason why she returns to tennis is because of the many aspects that go into being a successful player.
“I would say it’s such a unique game. There’s really no other sport quite like it, and I feel like there’s just so much that goes into it, because you have to be insanely athletic, but also, you need good reaction. You need good technique. You need a strong mentality. There’s just so many aspects that go into it. It’s just different than, say, with soccer, for example, there is a lot of technique involved, but mostly the goal is to score. Whereas with tennis, you probably have a different goal every point, every game, and every point is so different in how you do it and its outcome,” said Ciganer-Albeniz.
On the court, Ciganer-Albeniz is a strong competitor with a tough mentality, according to Mercan Draman ’26. Draman also noted that Ciganer-Albeniz constantly pushes her teammates to be the best they can be.
Draman said, “She’s a really good captain. She’s pretty competitive. She always goes all out for game psyches… She’s competitive but also very sweet to us, like she forces us to be our best player… She’s very into tennis. She’ll train no matter what. Even if she’s tired, she’ll still grind really hard at practice.”
In addition to her skills on court, Evelyn Kung ’26 also pointed out the strong team bond that Ciganer-Albeniz creates off the court, urging her teammates to show up for each other.
“As a player, she’s definitely one of the strongest players on the team. That’s for sure. She has such great tennis skill, and she’s really good at supporting others. She and her doubles partner have a really great dynamic. And she’s a really great tennis player… She’s always on time to practice. She comes up with fun ideas for warm-ups. Like I said, she initiates team brunches and makes sure that we all show up to support our teammates. For instance, one of my teammates, [Kendra Tomala ’26], was doing the TEDx Talk this weekend and she, [Lena], was on top of it, making sure that we were all gonna be there to support her, so she’s a really great person on and off the court,” said Kung.
With a team of just nine players, Ciganer-Albeniz believes that that influences her position as Co-Captain, leading less like a traditional captain, and more like a motivator. From organizing psyches to ordering pizza, Ciganer-Albeniz strives to create an environment where her teammates are excited to show up.
Ciganer-Albeniz said, “With tennis, it’s a very small team, so I don’t have the impression of feeling that captain-y. I do do leadership stuff, but it doesn’t feel above them or anything. I would say I just lead them in a way that makes them excited to come to practice every day and compete, and motivate them. And so some of the things, like the warm-up, I send reminders with names and for psyches and stuff. One thing, for example, is that tennis goes on for a really long time. We’ve missed dinner a bunch of times, so getting everybody’s orders for pizza, for example. It really ranges.”
Similarly, Kung also highlighted Ciganer-Albeniz’s reliability and willingness to take initiative. She noted Ciganer-Albeniz’s ability to use her energy as a vocal leader.
“I’ve known Lena for two years, and in the time that I’ve known her, she’s always been really confident and always willing to take the lead. She is the one that comes up with a lot of ideas for psyches. She initiates a lot of the team brunches, and she’s a really good captain because of her willingness to take the initiative. She’s also a very loud and energetic person, so she leads a lot of our team cheers and stuff like that,” said Kung.
In terms of goals, Ciganer-Albeniz hopes that the team can hold its title of NEPSAC champions. She also shared individual goals for creating a healthy environment for the team.
Ciganer-Albeniz said, “The ultimate goal for the team is to win NEPSAC again this year. With Winsor moving up to Class A and the presence of Groton, Hoosac, and Nobles, I think the competition is going to be tougher than it’s ever been during my time here. But, with the team work and effort that every person on the team consistently puts in, I really believe that we can win. As for myself, I just want to contribute to a positive energy, which we tend to have, and win as many matches as possible for the team.”
Ciganer-Albeniz plans to continue tennis in some capacity.
