The women of Wakefield high school’s varsity tennis team are optimistic despite a challenging 2021 season. In 2020, the ladies managed to pull off a near-perfect record; going 9-1 for the shortened season. In 2021, their 90% win streak decreased to 58%, leaving them 6th in the Northern Athletic 4A. 

Junior Katelyn Mann acknowledges the challenges.

“Emma not being able to play was incredibly difficult for the team,” Mann said. “She’s our number one player and since she tore her ACL and wasn’t able to play everyone had to step up.”

Captain Emma Hulicki was the winner of last year’s tennis conference tournament and was named 2020’s conference player of the year. Her absence meant the team had to work harder and faster to win.

“Everyone had to step up,” Mann said. “Because of the limited time we had, we had to do it fast.”

On top of missing their best player, the majority of the team’s practices were canceled due to extreme heat or rain. 

“There were a few times where we would go a week, or two or three without playing and then have three or four matches the next week because we were making them all up,” Mann said.

Throughout all the adversity, the girls managed to find a silver lining. Freshman Sierra Royalty was able to ascend to Hulicki’s rank of number one.

“[The] highlight of [my] season was making it to regionals,” Royalty said.

Royalty acknowledges the challenges the team faced this season, but still has high hopes for the upcoming seasons.

“Overall, I think we tried our best,” said Royalty. “We were missing Emma, our number one, so we had to compromise with what we had. I think we did the best with what we were given.”