4/19- Andover; 9, Choate; 0
4/23- Andover; 5, Deerfield; 0
Girls Tennis (7–0) remained undefeated this week after securing commanding victories over Choate Rosemary Hall and Deerfield Academy. At Choate, the team approached the match with high energy and used the opportunity to test new strategies in live play. Despite shortened matches against Deerfield, Andover maintained control and delivered another dominant performance.
Nitya Madduri ’28 emphasized the team’s enthusiasm during Saturday’s away match. Despite not having home court advantage, the team remained energetic.
“It was just super supportive, like we always are for every game. Especially since it was an away game, we didn’t have a home advantage, everyone around us was making sure that they were cheering and supporting one another and that it was very lively, which was good,” said Madduri.
Evelyn Kung ’26 recognized Lena Ciganer-Albeniz ’25 for her resilience in a tough singles match at Choate.
“Our number one singles, Lena, probably had the toughest match on Saturday. Her matches always go really long, but she was one of the only people who actually had a challenging opponent. She played through really well and she was taking a lot of those risks and making those riskier shots, which we’re all really proud of her for,” said Kung.
In those two games, the team focused on applying new skills, particularly in approaching the net and playing more aggressively. With a manageable opponent, players had the freedom to implement strategies developed during recent practices, according to Mercan Draman ’26.
“We’ve been working on [it] for a while, going forward towards the net and attacking the ball. Since Choate wasn’t a very hard team to beat, we were very focused on trying risky shots and hitting hard,” said Draman.
Madduri also noted the team’s focus on reaction time and early point finishes, explaining how those goals translated from practice to match play.
“We were definitely focusing on finishing the point early and really attacking when necessary and not waiting too long. Also, we were working on building team spirit through just more relaxed games and you could definitely tell that it came through today. You could see everyone was looking for the right shot to approach and come to the net and finish it off, which was good,” said Madduri.
Draman highlighted Madduri’s performance during Wednesday’s match at Deerfield. She praised Madduri’s focus during the fast-paced best-of-five format.
“Today was a really quick match because we did best of five. I was watching Nitya on the court next to me while I was playing my singles and she seemed like she was very focused on her match and doing a really good job,” said Draman.
Looking ahead, Kung shared that the team plans to shift its focus back to singles play during practice after spending time refining doubles pairings.
“We’re going to be doing a lot of singles play because we’ve been working on a lot of doubles lately and I think our singles could use a little bit of work. We’re going to be working on different formations for doubles. We do [I-formation] really well, but maybe we will work on serving and volleying,” said Kung.
Girls Tennis looks to continue its winning streak at Exeter on Saturday.
