Photo by Lorenzo Romano

Piano senior Alex O’Brien goes through her normal warmups during a practice. “[Practice helped] districts go as I predicted. Most of us won our first match easily and lost the second,” O’Brien said. “During practice, my teammates [were] helpful with drills and giving me advice on my form.”

Communications junior Natalia Civin and visual senior Nicole Linder advanced to the finals of the district tennis tournament before losing to players from American Heritage. Districts took place on Tuesday, March 30 at the Tennis club of Palm Beach.

Communications sophomore Briana Seaberg, piano senior Alex O’Brien, and vocal junior Gabrielle Cowen, and Linder were among those who competed in the semifinals for the girls doubles team. For the boys team, piano junior Ethan Nguyen advanced to the semifinals for singles.                                                                                                                           

“Districts went great; I’m so proud of the team as a whole,” Civin said. “We really held our own in all our matches. We were in a district with some really tough schools and we all did so well. It was great watching my teammates win their matches and for me making it to the finals was a huge accomplishment.”

O’Brien and Seaberg advanced to the girls number one doubles semifinals. Linder and Cowen also advanced to the girls number two doubles semifinals.

“We were up against some really good schools that recruit athletes to be part of their sports teams,” O’Brien said. “I lost to a girl who was ranked 19 in the state. I hit just as hard, but her placement of the ball was incredible. I played my hardest and tried to think about things strategically as well as technically.”

As the season progressed, so did the players. Each player devoted serious time to improve as individuals and as a team. This summer some players on the team plan to continue to work on their game to become better players and teammates.

“I plan on working harder throughout the year, playing more with my dad, and practicing more on my own by the time season comes,” Civin said. “I’ll be ready for next season and throughout the year I want the team to hit together maybe once or twice a month on a weekend so we can all get preseason practice and get excited.”

Despite no players on the team progressed past district finals, the players expectations and goals for next season remain high.

“So far it has mainly been not about winning, but about what we can do better heading into next season,” Nguyen said. “Also to develop as a good player by paying attention to the aspects of your game. I’m going into next season with bigger goals [and] I hope we as a team get better.”

Other players that competed in districts includes visual junior Mitchell Del Mastro, visual sophomore Jared Amrose, piano senior Thomas Wiskoff, and band senior Nicholas Zarins.