Sailor Tennis is Back at the Top

11/2/2016

The Marymount Sailor Tennis Program was in fine form this 2016 Fall Season!

VARSITY TENNIS TAKES THE SAILORS TO NEW HEIGHTS

The Varsity Tennis season is highlighted by an undefeated league record of 8-0 to be crowned Sunshine League Champions. This League Championship ends a seven-year drought and a first for newcomer Head Coach Andoni Gracia. To top an 8-0 undefeated season, doubles team Megan Dunne 17’ and Christine Gemperle 17’ took the Sunshine League #1Doubles Team at this year League CIF Qualifying Tournament.

The 8-0 record did not come easy to this Sailor squad. They faced tough competition throughout the season, standing SailorStrong in order to beat the strongest opponents in the League. Coach Gracia, reiterated throughout the season how important teamwork would be in order to win a championship. He often sent this quote to the girls “Talent wins matches. Teamwork wins’ championships”. He saw this attitude when key players were injured or sick in times of crucial matches. The squad rallied as a team, and the players who stepped in had an outstanding performance in order to be effective and successful. Coach Gracia is proud of the girls and their performance this year. All season long the Sailors have played Marymount team tennis, fighting for each other and for the team.

The Sailors, aren’t finished yet! With a first place finish in league, the team has earned a top seed position in CIFSS Division III playoffs. Their first match is Wednesday November 2^nd vs. Redlands East Valley at 2:00pm at Cheviot Hills Tennis Center.

Stay tuned for CIFSS individual playoff information as reigning Sunshine League #1 double team Dunne 17’ and Gemperle 17’ take to the courts later in November to bring home a CIF Individual Championship title.

JV TENNIS REVELS IN A DEEP TALENT POOL

This year, the JV Tennis team set out with one goal in mind: to win a Championship. With that mindset and sheer determination, there was little room left for errors. Coach Charles Hutchinson is proud to celebrate another Sunshine League Championship this year. The team finished the season with a 5-1 league record, and a 10-3 overall record.

After a lengthy and grueling tryout period in August, Coach Hutchinson was thrilled and impressed with the new tennis talent at Marymount this season, not to mention the experience returning players to his team. Each season Coach Hutchison holds aspirations of winning league but this year he saw early on in the season that there was a very good possibility of accomplishing that. Additionally, he was most impressed with the overall improvement he witnessed daily, particularly in every athlete’s serve and footwork. He attributes these improvements to cone and ladder drills done throughout the season. As the season progressed he saw a change and development in the athlete’s overall agility which lead to the Sailors being more competitive vs. stronger opponents. Coach Hutchinson was impressed with how competitive the girls were in match play. He felt as a team and individually, no athlete was out played. He saw this when the Sailors faced the top ranked JV team in the Mission League, Harvard Westlake, when they had their best match of the season, only narrowly falling short.

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