By Maeve Rourke – Staff Reporter

The Law girls tennis recently wrapped up a historic season.

Throughout the whole season the team had two main goals – win their SCC tier and qualify for states – and they did both. They finished the regular season with a record of 12-8 which broke the school record for wins in a season.

The team also advanced to the semifinals of the SCC Tournament at Yale University for the first time in school history and qualified for the Class M state tournament, where they fell 5-2 to Waterford in the first round.

“It was an unbelievable year,” head coach Mr. Kulenych said. “It was definitely a roller-coaster of a season but the girls stayed focused, worked so hard, and got better every single match. We played our best tennis when it mattered at the end of the year and that’s a credit to how hard the girls worked. It was a special season.”

The highlight of the season came on May 18 when Law played cross-town rival Foran on Senior Night. The girls swept all three doubles matches, and Emma Shea won a nail-biting 4th singles match to clinch the win and qualify the team for states.

Not only did the team qualify, but individual players qualified for states as well. The first doubles team of juniors Megan Gleason and Trisha Brady qualified for the first time.

“I’m really proud of how well we were able to play together and I can’t wait for us to head to states,” Brady said.

Throughout the season, the team displayed outstanding perseverance and positivity. In the middle of the season, the girls had played all their toughest matches against teams outside of their division all in the same two weeks. Despite these hardships, the team kept their positive attitudes, and accomplished their goals.

“I think the team was so successful this year because we have a great coach and a talented group of girls,” senior captain Emma Shea said. “Everyone is so flexible when it comes to lineups.”

In addition, many players had record-breaking seasons. Shea finished her season undefeated, with a mind blowing record of 23-0, and set the career record for wins with 49.

“I always researched my opponents before I played them, so I could know what to expect,” Shea said. “While I played, the key for me was to stay calm, stay confidents, and to never lose hope.”

Key players on the team throughout the season were junior Victoria Contaxis, freshman Monica Pydipati, junior Maeve Rourke, and Shea at singles and Gleason, Brady, junior Deepika Senthilnathan, sophomore Meghana Jaladanki, junior Brianna Arnold and senior Anna Downs at doubles.

Arnold and Downs comibined to win 15 matches at 3^rd doubles and Contaxis won 10 matches at 1^st and 2^nd singles.

The tennis team is very excited for next season where they hope to qualify for states once again.

“I’m looking forward to having a really strong team since most of us will be seniors and have the experience from being on the team for several years,” Contaxis said.

The team is determined to keep its close bond, and maintain a positive outlook for next year.

“I think we need to hold more pasta parties and participate in team bonding,” Contaxis said. “We also need to recruit more underclassmen.”

In the meantime, they can look back on one of the best seasons in school history.

“I’m so proud of the girls for the way they competed all year,” Kulenych said. “Our motto all year was to ‘make it happen’ and not wait or wish for good things to happen to us. That’s exactly what the girls did. They made it happen.”