The first three games of the girls’ tennis season couldn’t have been better. The team started out 3-0, with home wins against Blair, Rockville and B-CC High Schools, respectively. The Wildcats swept their opponent in all three contests, winning 7-0 in all three matches.
For their first match of the season, the team started things off with a clash against Blair High School on March 21. In singles, junior Mia Milicevic, senior Sky Carter, sophomore Marie Boy and freshman Ava Sharifai all served up wins against their opponents. In doubles, junior Angela Lynch and sophomore Emma Aivazov won in straight sets as the number one doubles. The number two doubles saw junior Cristina Simpson and sophomore Sonia Gass come back from losing the first set, and winning the next two sets to win the match. In the number three doubles, sophomore pair Elizabeth Martin and Alyssa Thoms also won in straight sets.
“The team was all there supporting each other. It’s still the beginning of the season but we’re getting along really well as a team,” Boy said.
The team came back from spring break looking to continue their successes against Rockville High School on Saturday, April 13. The Cats crushed the Rams, and won all seven of their matches in straight sets.
In their third match of the season, they faced a big challenge against the rival B-CC Barons.
“[Before B-CC], we talked about how we needed to come much better prepared. Because although they’re not in our division, they’re much harder to beat than Rockville and Blair,” Milicevic said.
In singles, all three of Milicevic, Carter and Boy swept their opponents. Sharifai in the number four singles got her footing after losing the first set 6-1, to win her match and keep the sweep alive. All three of the doubles pairs won in straight sets, with junior Mirnam Elag and freshman Zoe Rojas stepping in as the number one pair.
“I can definitely tell that the new players are getting adjusted, and I think that the people who were on the team last year are continuing the success that we’ve had before. I like what I’m seeing from the players, they got challenged [against] B-CC, so it’s good to see how they were able to overcome that,” Head Coach Mitch Duque said.
The Cats look to remain undefeated, as they play at Churchill on Wednesday, April 10 and Damascus on Thursday, April 11, before playing home on Friday against Richard Montgomery.
![Junior Mia Milicevic practices her forehand at tennis practice with the WJ girls tennis team. “Sometimes I don’t like [tennis] because you’re alone but most of the time, I do like it for that reason because it really is just you out there. I do experience being part of a team at WJ but in tournaments and when I’m playing outside of school, I like that rush when I win a point because I did it all by myself," Milicevic said. (Courtesy Mia Milicevic)](https://wjpitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/c54807e1-6ab6-4b0b-9c65-bfa256bc7587.jpg)
