Co-Captain Kendra Tomala ’26 joined Girls Tennis as a Junior, quickly establishing herself as a strong player and rising through the ladder. While Tomala was unavailable to provide comments to The Phillipian, her teammates spoke about her leadership and impact on the team.
Co-Captain Evelyn Kung ’26 reflected on her experience leading alongside Tomala as the season began, particularly their priority of fostering a tight-knit team culture.
“Kendra and I work really well together. We’ve been hosting a ton of team dinners throughout the week just to really get everyone motivated and ready for the season because we’re such a small team with only eight girls. It’s really important that everyone just consistently shows up for each other on and off the court, and I think we do a really good job together prioritizing that,” said Kung.
Michelle Oh ’29, the only Junior on the team this year, described her experience practicing doubles with Tomala. Oh shared how Tomala’s guidance and leadership style have helped her improve as a player.
“In double games that we do during practice, whenever I play with her, and I make a silly mistake, she turns it into a joke or takes it really lightheartedly and supports me. She says, ‘Don’t worry about it, next shot,’ or ‘we got this.’ And I think that not taking things too seriously is a really good trait, and that’s how she stays calm. Being a new [Junior] on the team, her non-judgmental characteristic and the quiet confidence that she has in herself motivate me to do the same. She also motivates me to just have fun with the team, especially during the first year getting adjusted,” said Oh.
Kung also spoke to Tomala’s influence on younger players, describing her work ethic and presence as setting a standard for the team.
“Kendra has been at the top of the ladder for many, many years. Obviously, she’s a really, really good player. And I just think that because of her position, a lot of the other players look up to her and follow her example. She consistently leads the team in all of our matches. She’s always there for all of us, even after her own match is finished, cheering us on the sidelines. I think she’s one of the most dedicated and hard-working people I know,” said Kung.
Oh described how Tomala’s leadership style is also seen in her playing style, being aggressive and defensive when necessary.
“Kendra has a really quiet confidence that especially shows in her playing style because she knows when to be aggressive and when to be defensive, and that works really well because that makes her a really consistent player, especially against a wide variety of top players across different teams. At first, I felt like I was a little bit intimidated by her, but getting to know her better as a leader, a tennis player, and also as a person, her kind, quiet confidence shows in her playing as well as her leadership,” said Oh.
