Bounding across the court, Co-Captain Rhea Bhandari ’19 hit a forehand crosscourt shot to win the point for her and her doubles partner, Sofia Poncel ’21. Andover Girls Tennis won its season opener against Groton 8-1 on Wednesday, beginning the season with a 1-0 record. All three doubles teams won their matches.
Poncel, who is sixth-seed on the team, said, “We’ve been working on it a lot leading up to the match and we won all our doubles. I think it’s because we worked a lot with our partners, so playing the match was just like practice and it went really smoothly.”
In anticipation of its first match, the team spent most of its time playing doubles, as well as working on its consistency, according to third seed Nicole Lee ’22. In addition to physical preparation, the team worked on honing its focus and using its mind during games, according to eightth-seed Inge Park ’22.
Park said, “[We’ve] done some mental practices. We met with [Instructor of Mathematics Lani Silverman] who taught us a lot about how to stay mentally stable during our matches.”
For the rest of the season, the team hopes to improve its strategy and establish a closer bond with each other, especially with the newcomers.
Lee said, “It’s pretty early in the season and this is our first match, so I think just working on doubles, two people on the court; working on our strategy in those kind of games and building our trust within each other [will be important going forward].”
Park added, “I think staying positive, supporting each other and cheering each other on during the match is important [for the rest of the season.]
The team will face Pomfret at home this Saturday.
