By Zack Sulkis – Social Media Editor-In-Chief

The Jonathan Law girls tennis team has hit the courts and is off to a solid start this season.

The girls currently have a 4-4 record with wins over Shelton, West Haven, Sheehan, and Lyman Hall. The team is halfway to one of its preseason goals of winning at least eight matches and returning to the State Tournament for the fifth straight year.

“The season is turning out pretty well,” senior co-captain Moulika Sivalenka said. “We have expected wins and losses, but we are fighting hard every match. Here and there we might falter a little, but our team spirits are always high and we always support each other during matches.” 

This year’s captains are seniors Isabella Gecaj, Chloe Haasch, Kaitlyn Goldberg, and Sivalenka.

Key singles players this season include Gecaj, Goldberg, sophomore Harshitha Kothapalli, and freshman Courtney Russo. Key doubles players include Haasch, Sivalenka, senior Kayla Nastasia, junior Kacey Pagaduan, junior Brianna Madelung, sophomore Siya Patil, and junior Carol Jiang.

Kothapalli said she is proud of the way the team has navigated a difficult schedule to start the year.

“I think we’ve done well on being able to recover from playing hard teams,” Kothapalli said. “We try to always learn from our mistakes and bring the same level of dedication and determination to each match.”

Head Coach Mr. Kulenych has high expectations that he feels the girls will meet this season.

“This is one of the hardest-working and most dedicated groups of girls we’ve ever had,” Kulenych said. “They trained so hard in the offseason and I’m excited to see how all of that hard work pays off. We have a good mix of experience and new talent, and if we keep our focus on getting a little better every day, we should have a very successful season.”

The team is very well connected and friendly with each other and has a very tight-knit bond. The captains and seniors emphasize this with team bonding activities often and they feel its brought them closer together.

“My favorite thing about Law girls tennis would be the team bond,” Gecaj said. “Everyone is really close and it’s something you don’t always see on a team. Everyone has a lot of respect for each other and it’s great to see so many good sports all on one team.”