The Girls Varsity Tennis Team won their second division title in two years, as of September 27th.

Players attributed the victory not only to their hard work and hours of practice, but to their strong team unity. Team bonding activities are a part of the many sports teams, and freshman Sydney Callahan says the activities strengthened her relationship with the team. “I didn’t feel close to them [before the bonding experience]…but after that we were all friends. We swam and made tie dye—and we watched Mulan,” said Callahan.  It cannot be said for certain that unity leads to victory, but it certainly has not hurt the tennis team.  In the 2011 season, the team won the Division II title with an 8-0 division record and a 14-1 match record. (Match records include scrimmages against teams not in the division.) This year, they are undefeated.

Their match record is 15-0 and 8-0 for division matches. Head coach Marianne Michels mentioned that this year the team moved up from Division II to Division I. “William Penn got knocked out [of the division, which] is why we got bumped up into Division I,” said Michels. Though the change in divisions meant competing against bigger schools, whole new set of teams, and whole new set of playing styles, senior captain Lucy

Kalista was not intimidated. “We [already] played a lot of crossover matches, so we were ready for them,” said Kalista. Michels was not surprised

at the smooth transition. “We had already played the top Division I teams, Central and Dallastown…. They moved over to Division I with no

problem, and they were ready to step up,” said Michels.

With only five players the top three on the squad—junior Captain Katie Wagner, sophomore Adrianna Bullaj, and sophomore Usha Baublitz—have yet to lose an individual match.

Coach Michels hopes that the intensity and unity will carry over into counties on Friday, October 5.