Jessica Scott hits a backhand. Photo Credit: Yearbook Staff.[/caption]The women’s tennis team celebrated senior night on Tuesday, October 8, after it was canceled on Monday due to rain. The team faced a tough match against rival, Cedar Ridge High School, and lost 0-9. Even with the loss, the team remained in high spirits enjoying their last match of the season. At 4:15 pm the senior night festivities started and at 4:30 pm the matches began.
To recognize the seniors, Coach Andy Brown called out each senior onto the courts one by one to be joined by their teammates and parents. He thanked them for their participation, mentioned their post-high school plans, and gave them a flower. The seniors on the team were Kiana Bell, Jessica Scott, Mary Katherine Dougherty, Skylar Crabtree, and Brianna Hales. Skylar Crabtree said, "[Senior night] was amazing. My favorite part was when Coach Brown did the curly shuffle." At the end of the ceremony Coach Brown demonstrated a dance called the curly shuffle to the team.
Every year, the underclassmen plan senior night for the teammates graduating. They contributed by making posters for each senior and the foreign exchange student, Ines Soffer, since this will be her only year playing on the team. Parents of the seniors brought food for all the players to enjoy. The team continued the celebration at Tokyo Express, where they ate out and enjoyed their last night together. Jessica Scott said, "[Senior night] was a bittersweet moment for me. I have been blessed to have a caring and loving team this season and a fantastic coach...I'm so thankful for the awesome season we had."
Although this was the last match of the season, the conference tournament was held at OHS on Wednesday, October 9 at 1 pm. Kiana Bell and Beth Bryan both played singles matches against Northwood and Chapel Hill respectively and lost in the first round. Jessica Scott and Michaela Shriner played doubles and lost to Chapel Hill in the first round as well. Mary Katherine Dougherty and Brianna Hales played doubles against J.F. Webb and won, progressing to round two. They lost to Cedar Ridge.
The Orange High School women’s tennis team was expected to have three games during the short school week after Labor Day weekend. The Monday, September 3 match was canceled against Southern Durham because their school failed to have enough players to make a team. The team then played Chapel Hill High School and Eastern Alamance High School and suffered losses to both teams.
[caption id="attachment_3112" align="alignleft" width="183"]
Kiana Bell serving while practicing with Jessica Scott before their doubles match against Eastern Alamance[/caption]The OHS tennis team did not play Eastern Alamance last year so they were unsure what to expect out of the other team. The match was held on Friday, September 6, and Orange lost 3-6. Michaela Shriner, sixth seed, and Brianna Hales, fourth seed, both won their singles matches. Hales lost the first set 2-6 but won the second set 6-2 and then played a tie breaker winning 10-8. Shriner won her match 6-3, 6-4. Mary Katherine Dougherty and Hales won their second seeded doubles tennis match 8-3 in an eight game pro-set. Leila Andrews, usually fourth seed, and Beth Bryan, usually first seed, were both unable to play due to injuries. This caused players on the team to move up seeds and play against players that were ranked above them, which may have led to the close loss.
The Chapel Hill match was played Wednesday, September 4, and the Panthers lost 1-8. Kiana “Keke” Bell and Bryan won their first seeded tennis match against Lauren Su and Ria Das of Chapel Hill by 8-6 in an eight game pro-set. Chapel Hill easily clenched all six singles matches and the other two doubles matches.
Two matches will be held next week if weather permits. For the the first time the team will play Northwood High School away on Monday,
September 9. The Lady Panthers will take on Webb High School at home on Wednesday, September 11.
This year the team holds an overall record of 1-4. Three new schools have entered the 3A conference. They are Northwood, Southern Durham, and Cedar Ridge High School. All matches start at 4:30 pm unless otherwise noted. With an unusual amount of new players this year the team has roughly 20 players. Coach Andy Brown has split the team into Varsity and Junior Varsity.
Written by Lourdes Ramirez
The OHS tennis team has started off to a rainy season. The team has only played 3 matches since the season began due to the rainy weather cancelling scheduled matches. Of those 3 matches, they have won one. Last week they played Cedar Ridge and unfortunately lost. The team is scheduled to play 2 matches this week, one against Cardinal Gibbons on Wednesday and the other one against Chapel Hill Thursday.
The team has 14 players and no seniors, which coach Andy Brown said is both a strength and a weakness. When asked what he thought the team’s strengths were he said he thought it was the fact that they didn’t have any seniors on the team. This gives the team time to grow as a whole without worrying about next year when the seniors would be gone.
The younger team can spend more time developing. Coach Brown said that not having seniors was also a weakness because there isn’t anyone to be leaders, however there are kids who have been there longer and can teach the newer kids. The season has started off good and the team is looking forward to more wins.