Central Kitsap’s girls varsity tennis team went against Klahowya Secondary School on Monday, March 24. The game started out neck and neck, but CK quickly took the lead, with the final score coming in 4-1 for CKHS.
“We’re doing really well so far,” CKHS’ girls tennis coach Ken Allen said. “The year is early, one win and one loss. We’re still figuring out the doubles pairing and blowing the rust off from last year. But I think we are a solid team with a lot of experience at the top and a lot of new players that are really willing to listen and learn and are getting better all the time.”
Allen believes that all of his players are getting better as the days go on. He emphasizes hyping up his players for games and being a positive role model for the team, making it a productive environment for them to win.
The team worked well together and made a solid impact by winning the game that night. The team had some losses during the doubles matches, but overall, Central Kitsap beat Klahowya by a significant amount.
“I think we played really well today,” CKHS tennis player Grace Christensen said. “It’s definitely a smaller school we played against, so I think [the] odds were in our favor. My partner and I played pretty confidently against the other team.”
Christensen believes that the team synergizes effectively and that they have exceptionally strong players on the varsity team. Along with the advantage of playing against a smaller school, the match was sure to be a decisive win.
“Our tennis team is really strong this season, we have a lot of seniors on varsity this year so it’s going to be rough next year, but they came in really strong at the beginning of the season,” Christensen said.
While having veteran players on the team that have experience can help them this season, it will also make the following years rocky as they lose their graduating players.
“I think I did well, I think it was kind of a match where we had to have better sportsmanship and kind of go easier,” CKHS tennis player Lydia Frandsen said.
Frandsen believes that having good sportsmanship is important for the team. It’s a lot easier for them and can make things go by a lot smoother with the other team.
Aside from small concerns regarding sportsmanship on the team, the Central Kitsap girls varsity tennis team is off to a good start this season with a 66% win rate. However, there are still more games to come, and more games to win.
