The girls varsity tennis team played in the Northern Lake County conference match on Friday, Oct. 7. They competed against seven schools in the conference: Grant, Grayslake Central, Grayslake North, Lakes, Round Lake and Wauconda. During tennis conferences, teams go against another team with players in the same spot as them. This means all of the two doubles would play each other. Everyone plays in three matches to determine who gets medals. Medals are awarded to the top five in both singles and doubles.

There were a few medalists for the ACHS team. Senior Mia Kaiser and senior Elle Ipsen took second for doubles. Also, junior Hailey Caya and junior Tessa Cook placed first in three doubles. As well as senior Hannah Gaydovchik and junior Nicole Kutcher who took third for number four doubles., which makes them all-conference. Their mindset going in was to try their best and get a medal.

“I think when we came into this we all had really good attitudes,” junior Linnea Lindstrom said. “We wanted to just go out there and win first place and we all fought our best.”

When going out on the court with a bad attitude, it can negatively affect how the team does as a whole and it can affect how a singular player does. Having a good mindset helps the team do better. The girls tennis team has put a lot of effort into practice and their other matches that led up to conference.

“We had a lot of practice and tournaments leading up to this so we were pretty prepared,” senior Paige Wilson said. “We have gotten stronger physically and mentally.”

They had multiple matches that helped them get ready for conference. They faced a couple of challenges along the way while trying to find the right spot for everyone to play at. 

“We have a lot of people who like to play doubles, but very few people who like to play singles so the biggest struggle has been trying to find people to play in all the positions,” coach Jamie D’Andrea said. “Whether it was someone they wanted to play with or someone they did not want to play with, that didn’t matter and they had to overcome that.”

Sometimes it does not matter whether they want to play with someone or not. Going out with a good attitude and trying their best is most important for the team. The spots are determined by the way the team and teammates play. 

Most of the girls on this team are seniors, making for an exciting last season, with six individuals getting medals, conference went amazing for the Sequoits.