Senioritis is in full swing for the Oyster River High School (ORHS) class of 2024.
But, luckily for the girls tennis team, the six senior players are carrying the varsity team through an undefeated season. With a current record of 9-0, the team stands to make it to the state championships for a second year in a row.
All six senior girls have been playing tennis since their freshman year, most of them starting their high school career on the varsity team. Together, they’ve strengthened their dynamic, leadership skills, and pure tennis talent. Siena Schaier (’24) said, “There were teams that were a lot better than us, but throughout our four years we have grown so much and people have worked really hard… people put in the work and we won the state championship last year, undefeated.”
Even with players like Sofie Gibson (‘24) who has been the number one girls tennis player for ORHS since her freshman year, tennis skills aren’t the only things bringing the team to their victories this season. The six seniors work together to lead the practices and get all the members of the team organized and in the mindset to win.
With six different voices of leadership, conflicts are expected. They don’t find a problem with this, and see it as a way to grow from their trust in each other to make good decisions. Megan Zehetner (’24) said, “calling each other out when we see something we don’t like actually makes the environment better. Not being afraid to tell them is honestly a good thing for our team.”
Even though the seniors take up the first half of the varsity roster, they aren’t worried about the future of the team. Schaier said, “We’re a very deep team. All the way to our 10th spot are strong players, and most teams will have a good number one and two, but then a steady drop in skill level. We’re not worried about losing six since we’ll be able to fill at least four spots with really good players.”
Varsity head coach Lynne Corson trusts her players to make the change well. She said, “It will be tough, but, the underclassmen… don’t brush them aside. They’re strong too. I’ve seen a lot of what they can do, and I’d say it will be a building year for the team, but they’ll hold their own pretty well.”
Even though the team has had an undefeated first half of the season, Corson wants each player to continue bringing their all for the games leading up to playoffs. “It’s going to be all mental games now. Focus, focus, focus. It’s not our warm up matches anymore. We have to keep focused on one ball at a time and let the winning fall into place,” said Corson.
With the strong lineup and the current record, letting the wins fall into place will bring the varsity girls tennis team straight to their second championship win in a row.
“It’s going to be a challenge now. We’ve played easier teams so far and we need to face the bigger challenges,” said Gibson. On Friday, May 10th, ORHS girls tennis will host Winnacunnet and fight to remain undefeated for the second half of their season.
– Amelia Rury
photos by Maya Grainger
Mouth of the River 
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