Girls tennis celebrated their seniors Tuesday, April 26, in their match against Denver South. The team has five seniors including Belle Geist, Makenna Lee, Lauren Tesar, captain Lane Gray, and captain Olga Sorbala. The team fought hard in all of their matches, but came up short in the end. Regardless of the results, the girls took the time to encourage their teammates and have fun in their last big home match of the year.
At the beginning of the match, Mrs. Russell, the coach of the team, announced all five seniors. Then, juniors on the team brought them flowers and walked them off of the courts one by one. Senior banners and handmade posters hung on the fence to honor the senior squad.
Senior captain Olga Sorbala reflects on both the match and the season.
“I was very proud of all of the JV players because they made us posters and it was very cute,”
“It was important to me because it was my last season and my last year in high school and it was very fun … Coach Russel and Coach K are really good and I’m really glad they were a part of the tennis team this year,” Sorbala said.
Senior Makenna Lee also offers her perspective.
“[This season] was important to me because I’ve been playing since I was a freshman and it was my last big go-around with a sport at Littleton. I just wanted to have fun and get better and leave high school with a good experience,”
“I’m proud of how many improvements everybody made, how we actually felt like a real team this year, how Mrs. Russel made us all feel welcome, and how we got better as athletes and as people,” Lee said.
The team shares that they especially enjoyed team bonding activities that they got to experience, like getting frozen yogurt after practice and team dinners.
“Tennis really gives kids an opportunity to grow as individuals and grow as partners when you play doubles and show a lot of grace and support to one another. People don’t recognize that that’s a thing in tennis because it feels so individual,” said Mrs. Russel.
Mrs. Russel shares some final advice to her team.
“There’s nothing that you can’t recover from, just keep pushing through, keep people that you love around you and you’re gonna go off and do great things,”
