By KAAMYA VARAGUR, junior

If you’ve been listening to the morning announcements, you know that the tennis team is at it again. The Lady Hawks, led by senior captains Michelle Chen and Sophia Chen, have finished yet another successful fall campaign, with a varsity record of 15-4. The team got off to a great start in September with a second place finish at the annual September Smash Tournament in Livingston. Recently, the Hawks finished third at the county tournament. Seniors Michelle Chen and Nandita Munindra were finalists at second doubles after a semi-final win against South Brunswick. Freshman Claire Pan finished with a bronze medal at first singles after defeating North Brunswick. Additional bronze medals were won by second singles player senior Sulagna Chauhan, third singles player senior Anshu Patel, and the first doubles team of Sophia Chen and sophomore Michelle Tsung. The Hawks’ JV team has also been hard at work this season, finishing with a 7-2 record.

The key to the tennis team’s success is an ideal combination of hard work, dedication, and love for the sport. Players not only put in effort at practices and matches during

the season, but also work hard during the off-season, devoting plenty of time year- round to play at local courts and clubs. The team is fortunate to have Coach Pisano and Coach DiBella, both of whom are extremely passionate about the sport and encourage players to continually strive for excellence. Sophia, on the coaches, noted, “They have made me love tennis more than I could have imagined and have inspired me to continue playing in college.”

For any team to achieve excellence, the teammates must establish a camaraderie with each other. The varsity and junior varsity teams combined consist of only twenty-four players. Of the close-knit group of tennis players, senior Anshu Patel remarked, “It is very easy in an individual sport like tennis for the players to get overly competitive and for there to be a bad team dynamic. Our team defies this completely. We are like a family, and we all love each other as much as we love the sport itself.” These sentiments only add to the admirable qualities of the school’s tennis team this year. With its stellar record, both past and present, the tennis team will surely continue to bring pride to the school’s athletic program for many years to come