The Mayfield Girls’ Tennis team, coached by Mrs. Abbey and Mr. Newsome, ended their season with a record of 7-6 in early October.

The season ended on a high note when on Friday, October 7, the Mayfield girls’ first doubles team of Molly Xiao and Cassidy Feng placed first at Laurel School’s Butler Athletic complex, beating out six other schools.  The second doubles team of Josie Conti and Jennifer Lui placed second.  The two teams played a total of forty games on their journey to the top.

The tennis season started on the second day of school. Practices were held daily  from 3:45 to 5:00 for the two weeks leading up to their matches. After these two weeks, the team had between three to four matches a week.  To get ready for each match, coach Mrs. Abbey said the girls usually run one or two laps around the court and stretch.

Each year, the team plays about fifteen to twenty matches total, depending on the season’s length and weather. This year there were sixteen scheduled matches, but three of the scheduled matches got rained out and were not rescheduled.

Mrs. Abbey thought the hardest match they had this year was Shaker Heights. But first singles, Molly Xiao, says that Hathaway Brown was the one to beat.

According to Mrs. Abbey, MMS tennis doesn’t have tryouts. She said, “The girls come to the first practice and demonstrate their skills: forehand/backhand strokes and serving.  On the basis of observation, the head coach and I decide to have a certain number of girls in the ladder tournament.”  For this ladder tournament, the girls play each other in a five-game set and earn points that determine their position. She explained, “The top point-receiver is the number one player, also called first singles, and on down.”  After the top seven positions, the rest are paired in doubles and play what are called exhibition matches.

Based on this ladder tournament, the lineup for the 2016 season was as follows: Molly Xiao at first singles, Cassidy Feng at second singles, Cameron Meador at third singles, Josie Conti and Jennifer Lui at first doubles, and Katie Eippert and Abby Coffin at second doubles.

The full roster for the 2016-2017 MMS girls tennis team is as follows:

Eighth Grade

• Abby Coffin
• Josie Conti
• Hannah Daedelow
• Emily Dicevicius
• Hailey Doerner
• Maddie Donohoe
• Katie Eippert
• Joanna Giju
• Charlotte Hantus
• Jackie Jablonski
• Julia Levak
• Kylie Nero
• McCartney Puhalla
• Molly Xiao

Seventh Grade

• Cassidy Feng
• Jessi Jennings
• Ginger Bee Lanning
• Jennifer Lui
• Cameron Meador
• Jurnee Smith
• Komal Sunner
• Olivia Zak

Mrs. Abbey said that this year’s team was well-balanced; the team had both great eighth-grade players and seventh-grade players, which will make a good continuing group for next year.

Mrs. Abbey says the students enjoy several benefits from playing tennis. When a student joins tennis they get to travel, meet other people, learn responsibility to work as team, and get good exercise. Tennis is also a fun lifelong activity, which is why Mrs. Abbey recommends tennis to all students. She thinks that all middle school students should play a sport because they get to meet new people, start a new hobby, and develop camaraderie.

Molly Xiao, an eighth-grade tennis player, was already playing tennis outside of school but joined the tennis team get the experience of playing on a team. Molly thinks the hardest part about tennis is all the tough competitors from different schools. Her piece of advice for anyone who wanted to join tennis is to “practice hard and don’t be afraid to lose.”

Another tennis athlete, eighth grader Josie Conti, joined tennis because she wanted to stay active and to do some sort of activity before she goes back to track in the spring. She thinks the hardest part about tennis is having to communicate well with a partner. Josie’s advice for anyone who wants to join tennis is don’t doubt what you can do; if you try hard enough, you’ll get better.