By Sara Solimani, Opinions Editor
Starting off fresh in March with a new season, the River Hill tennis team is looking forward to setting new records this season.
After ending last year’s season on a high note with two class 3A state champions, the competitive air from previous tournament wins persists during recent games. Going 8-0, the River Hill tennis team remains undefeated this season; they’ve played against several schools – Atholton, Mt. Hebron, Glenelg – all of whose teams are spectacular. River Hill is putting their best foot forward this year to match last year’s accomplishments.
Coach Pfefferkorn played a big role in last year’s achievements as the coach of the tennis team. She still continues to do so as she expresses her excitement and the pride she has for the tennis team. Coach states, “I’m really excited. I think we have a good team dynamic. I think we have our state title to defend so that’s certainly something that we’re working toward.”
In recent games, players on the tennis team have faced some challenges along with the successes from winning the matches. Since the nature of some schools tend to be more competitive, so does the atmosphere of the tennis court during these matches. Sophomore Julia Cabacar, who played during the match against Marriott’s Ridge on March 29th, comments how, “It was definitely intimidating to go up against Marriot’s Ridge because they are one of our bigger competitors.” Coach Pfefferkorn also shares these sentiments and continues, “One of our bigger rivals is Marriotts Ridge and we beat them on the guys and the girls side and that was a big win for us and we have a couple big matches coming up next week. Centennial is always competitive with us and Howard has a really good team so we’re just preparing for that.” It was safe to say that these fears were subsided by the end of the game when River Hill took it home with a score of 4-1 for the girls and 5-0 for the boys.
This competitiveness has been a highlight of tennis at River Hill throughout the years. Even as the tennis team has been able to stay strong despite all of the challenges, the coach and the team know what to look out for. Coach Pfefferkorn points out that, “Because we have a good track record with winning, people want to put their strongest lineups against us and they want to beat us,” Julia notes, “Since we’re a stronger school, there are a lot more better players than I expected.”
As a team, the players are working hard to practice together and improve their skills. Junior JJ Salter, starting his second year on the team, describes how “during practices we do matchplay to prepare for our games. We play against the other people on the team,” Coach Pfefferkorn adds, “Practice is really minimal since we have so many matches but putting different combinations of players together to see who goes well together and to see who is stronger at singles versus doubles,”
Since the tennis team has only 8 starting spots for boys and girls, the team seems to be smaller compared to other sports. Along with only having a varsity team, this difference can affect the team’s dynamics in several ways. Julia expresses that, “It’s a little more isolated at times because It feels like you’re working together but not really at the same time,” Even though this may be the reality of tennis in some aspects, it is still a team sport in the ways that count. Julia goes on to say, “I like the dynamic because we’re all helping each other… we all want the team to improve so even if there is competition for some spots, we’re still trying to help each other,” Junior Ella Jiao, who is returning for her 3rd year on the tennis team, agrees, “This year everyone is friends with each other which is really nice and it’s definitely different from the previous years because I feel like this year everyone is more connected with each other.”
Excitement builds as state champions and the height of this year’s tennis season turns the corner. So many are hanging off the edge of their seat with anticipation while others are enjoying the present before what’s to come. To share her thoughts, Coach states, “I think that we do deserve a spot in the state championships, I think that we have a really strong team but it also fluctuates with the other teams near here, I don’t know what they’re going to put out so sometimes that’s a surprise but I think we have really strong players this year,” Mostly everyone is trying to stay optimistic amidst all of the buzz. Julia says, “I’m looking forward to counties and states because they’re really fun,” and Ella follows with, “I really like my team this year so I think just hanging out with my team and doing team bonding is going to be fun,”
Stay tuned as we cheer on the tennis team during this year’s buzzing season.