As the girls’ tennis teams starts to get underway this year, they´ve already managed to acquire numerous wins, namely the Queen of the Court Tournament for the third year in a row.
This year, the team has gained many new players and has numerous strong returning players as well, setting them up for success for this season and many more.
So far, the team has won a match against Loyalsock 3-2, as well as against Hughesville also 3-2, which was a hard win for the team. They have also managed to defeat Muncy 5-0.
Aside from that they lost one match against Jersey Shore 1-4 and were able to win the Queen of the Court Tournament hosted by Montgomery once again, adding another trophy to their collection.
Coaching them is Coach Shawn Gardener and Assistant Coach Ryan Baxter.
The Girls´ Tennis Team won the tournament on Saturday, August 27 at the Montgomery Area Sports Complex. The first tournament was held in 2019 prior to the pandemic, and later started up again in 2021 after things began to settle back down.
Montoursville has won every time thus far, now possessing three tournament trophies in their “clubhouse¨ by the McCall Tennis Courts.
¨As a coach it makes me proud that the team has been victorious each time and won the cup,¨ said Gardener. ¨I believe that we have been able to achieve success because [of] hard work and a focus on fundamental elements of tennis strokes. I also believe I have been blessed with girls with not only talent but more importantly the will to win.¨
Gardener also spoke of the benefits of playing on a tennis team.
¨Tennis can teach a lot of life lessons whether you win or lose. With hard work and having goals, success can be achieved,¨ he said.
Competing in the tournament was home team Montgomery, as well as teams Lewisburg, Towanda, and Montoursville. Each team played a total of two matches. The first round of matches, held on August 25, Montoursville played Towanda and beat the team five to zero.
¨I think we all played really good…They [Towanda] were athletic but didn’t have as many skills. We used our strengths to beat their weaknesses,¨ said senior Alaina Marchioni.
Then, on Saturday, Montoursville played Montgomery at 1 p.m. for the winning match, and won 4-1, while Lewisburg played Towanda for the consolation match at 11 a.m.
Playing against Montgomery, all three of the singles players won their matches as well as the first doubles team, but the second doubles team, featuring Sophomore Addison Schemery and Freshman Kendall Simms, did suffer a loss.
When Schemery was asked about her experience at the match, who doesn’t typically play varsity, she said, ¨It was like a fun experience playing varsity and I think we did good overall as a team [referring to her and her partner, Simms] even though we lost.¨
For both of the matches, Senior Kara Mann, Marchioni, and Junior Katelyn Good all played singles matches. Sophomore Jillian Stone and Senior Erin Deljonovan played for the first doubles team. For the first match against Towanda, Senior Randi McKenna and Simms played for the second doubles, but Schemery played in place of McKenna for the second match against Montgomery.
Overall, the players were glad to get another win.
¨It feels good to keep the tradition going,” said Mann. “It’s nice to have another win and I hope it continues.¨
Featured Photo Caption: The Girls´ Tennis team is posing for a group photo with the Queen of the Court tournament trophy featured in the front center. They had just won the tournament for the third year and the final score of their match was 5-0 against Montgomery. Photo by Kara Mann
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