Girls Tennis

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Panther Prowler • Oct. 25, 2021 Girls’ Tennis serves into a new season

Taylor Gibson Staff Writer

Ace- Anna Li, senior and the varsity captain, takes a hard hitting swing at the tennis match against Thousand Oaks High School on Oct. 5. The varsity team won the match, scoring 16-2. Tiana Hoang/Prowler

The varsity and junior varsity girls’ tennis teams are still thriving even after the pandemic shut down most sports. The tennis players were able to return to their full season at the start of the year because tennis is a low contact sport which abides by safety regulations.

Elizabeth Benson, senior, is excited to return to a full season this year, especially since it is her last year playing. “This year we are able to do a lot more during practice than last year. We are allowed to have our regular full length practices, including conditioning, hitting and practice matches, as opposed to last year where we had to have the team split into two pods and only allowed to touch our own tennis balls, which slowed down our matches,” Benson said.

Benson has been playing tennis for 11 years now and has not had any regrets since she started. “Growing up, I wasn’t very competitive so tennis gave me the flexibility to learn and play for fun. As I got more into the sport, I fell in love with tennis and overtime became more competitive,” Benson said. When Benson is in a match, she always tries to stay positive even when that seems impossible. “For me tennis is 49 percent mental and 51 percent skill. When my partner and I are losing, it is hard to stay confident in our tennis abilities,” Benson said.

Edyn Stepler, senior, who also plays for the varsity team, has enjoyed playing tennis since sixth grade. “I actually just quit competitive dance after fifth grade and wanted to pick up another sport that didn’t deteriorate my mental health, and I found tennis,” Stepler said.

While in a match, team camaraderie can make a difference between winning and losing. “Throughout the entire match, I make sure to cheer on my teammates while also thinking of strategies against the other school,” Stepler said. While this season is going great so far, Stepler is especially excited for a doubles competition at the end of the season. “We’ll put together a mini tournament. This is a great way for everyone to gain new experience during the off-season!” she said.

As a relatively new member of the team, Karli Bartlett, sophomore, plays tennis for the junior varsity team. Bartlett discovered her interest in tennis two and a half years ago while playing non-competitively with some friends. One of Bartlett’s most enjoyable parts about a match is the preparation with her partner. “Usually before we start our actual match, we work with the other players that we’re going against, and by doing that we can figure out they’re weaknesses. So then my doubles partner and I would try to figure out what shots to hit so that we could have a better outcome,” Bartlett said.

“Our team as a whole is very academic focused so I think that helps us have fun when we come to practice because it’s our only break from school… Overall I feel like our coach, coach Milligan, tries hard to keep team moral strong,” Benson said.

NPHS wrestling team rolls back onto the mats Allison Nguyen News Editor

With the new season just beginning, the NPHS wrestling team is starting to get back in shape and prepare for upcoming matches.

Brandon Bauman, senior, is glad to be spending his third and final year on the team with a full in-person season and actual matches. “One of my friends did wrestling, and I did baseball, and I just wanted to try something different. Since my friend was doing wrestling I decided, I guess I’ll try it, and I really liked it,” Bauman said.

Though the COVID-19 mandates are fewer than last year, there are still some precautions that the players must practice diligently. “We just had to take a COVID test from the beginning of the week... then you’d pretty much take one starting like each new week just to make sure you don’t have COVID,” Bauman said.

For some, this season is the first opportunity for many to compete in matches and tournaments, including Oliver Caputo, sophomore. “I haven’t been to any matches recently but we are starting somewhat soon,” Caputo said. “I don’t totally know how the tournaments work, but the type of meets we did last year had one school versus another, and JV and varsity both had a match for each weight class,” Caputo said. The team meets up for practices Monday through Friday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and their first tournament of the year is on Oct. 18.

Caden Terry, senior, will be spending his fourth year on the team this season. After a whole year of having changes, things are finally getting back to normal for the team. “For a long time we couldn’t do wrestling because of COVID, so there was just a lot of running, and then eventually we were able to do things in the weight room just outside.I think we tried wrestling outside too, but that was bad,” Terry said. “Normally we would try to do tournaments and do individual fights against a ton of other people your weight. Those were all canceled, so it was only like two teams playing against each other.”

Compared to last year, the numbers in matches have definitely increased. “Both freshman and sophomore year, I had like 30 something matches and last year there were like 10...the season was a lot shorter,” Terry said.

Overall, this is going to be a new and fun season for the entire team. “My favorite part about wrestling is the team, the coaches and teammates and how they are supportive and helpful especially when we learn new things and there is always a positive atmosphere during practices and meets,” Caputo said.