On Wednesday, September 25th, the senior women’s tennis players had their senior night before their tournament trip to Newport Beach.  Team captain Yvonna Shuckman ‘25, Sophie Berger ‘25, and Emma Balelo ‘25 are sad to say goodbye to the tennis court, yet excited to start a new chapter of their lives at college.

The girls tennis players were all in tears as they said the hard goodbye to their senior friends. Shuckman ‘25 stated, “I’ve definitely made so many friends…especially this year and especially this last trip I got close with some of the underclassmen which I think is great because it allows us to all come together.” 

With the season coming to an end, the captains aim to leave a memorable mark behind them that represents the quality of their skills.  Balelo ‘25 said, “this season was really important to me because it is my last season of high school tennis.  Not only was it my last high school tennis season, but I am done playing tennis after this so it was a really great season with my teammates”.  This was Berger’s ‘25 first and last season with the Gaels but wishes she would have joined sooner. She described senior night as a “fun night!  All the girls came together to make it extra special for us seniors”.

The team placed third out of four teams at the California tournament and while most outsiders see this as a defeat, Shuckman and the rest of the team viewed this as a win.  She said, “California tennis is genuinely on a different level…they have the best tennis in the whole U.S. and even beating one of the teams is really good.”  In the approaching state finals, the Gaels plan to take down Liberty’s patriots on Monday at home.