4/12 – Andover: 6, Winsor: 3
4/16 – Andover: 9, St. Paul’s: 0
This Saturday, Girls Tennis (5-0) faced Winsor in a hard-fought match, ultimately ending in a victory and extending its win-streak. On Wednesday, it defeated St. Paul’s in a dominant sweep.
Dreary weather conditions initially drove down the team’s morale, but, according to Co-Captain Lena Ciganer-Albeniz ’25, Head Coach Katy Lambson emphasized high energy on Saturday.
“The week going up to [the match], our coach really emphasized energy and staying hyped throughout practice. So even though it was pouring outside and really late and really long and grueling, we went in with a lot of energy and that did us really well,” said Ciganer-Albeniz.
According to Mercan Draman ’26, following a tough loss in her first set, Kendra Tomala ’26 maintained her composure to finish the match and defeat her opponent.
“Kendra’s match—she’s our number one singles—she was up in the first set by a lot, but then she ended up losing the first set. And then she won the second set by a really close margin and the tiebreak was really fun and exciting to watch”, said Draman.
Evelyn Kung ’26 also emphasized Tomala’s performance whose match was much longer than expected. Furthermore, Kung praised Tomala’s collaboration with Lara Madan ’27 who she hadn’t played doubles with much before.
“My doubles partner, Lara, really stood out because it was our first time playing doubles together and we did really well. And, also my teammate, Kendra Tamala, she played a three hour match. She lost the first set, came back to win the second, and then won in a tiebreaker. And her match literally lasted three hours, which is just insane,” said Kung.
According to Ciganer-Albeniz, on Wednesday against St. Pauls, each team member was seeded one placer higher due to Tomala, the team’s first-seeded player, unable to play. Still, the team secured wins in all of its singles matches.
“Because we were missing our number one, Kendra, because she had the flu, we had to play a very modified lineup for both, but singles wasn’t much different. We basically just bumped everyone one up. That was nice that everybody won in their respective single matches even though everybody was playing one position higher than they usually play,” said Ciganer-Albeniz.
Draman emphasized the team’s ability to keep energy levels high in a moment where every teammate was successful in their matches.
“We were just continuing to do what we’ve been doing for the past week and a half. We kept up the energy that we had in Winsor, even though St. Paul’s is a worse team than Winsor, we were still very hyped about our matches”, said Draman.
Kung predicted that the team’s upcoming practices will focus on regaining strength as illness passes through the team. Additionally, it will work on improving its doubles strategy.
“Everybody’s sick, so we’re trying to focus on rebuilding right now. I think we’re gonna be doing a lot more doubles work because those three points [that were lost] at the beginning are so crucial. I think we might try out different formations, like we did last week. Maybe we’re gonna do Aussie this week,” said Kung.
Girls Tennis will play at Choate and Deerfield on Saturday and Wednesday, respectively.
