Overall, the team still has things to work on, but continues to fight past the obstacles that they already face. At this year’s Barstow tournament, the team tied with two other schools, finishing 4th place overall.

In the Singles Division, Sam Hembree (‘25) played hard against three schools, Blue Springs, Marshall, and Ray-Pec, while freshman Sanjana Akkulgari also competed in the B bracket.

Common advice from Coach O’Brien included staying active at the net and making sure to stay calm, even when a match does not go the way you want it to.

“Coach O’brien always encourages and hypes us up even if we’re losing. He’s everybody’s cheerleader,” says Lia Adams (‘24). 

In A bracket doubles, Mary Colombo (‘23) and Adams won the entire tournament, fighting hard through three matches.

Colombo and Adams dominated against Marshall, winning 10-1. In semifinals, they finished 10-3 against the #2 seed from Lees Summit, an especially important match since the team will be facing off against them in Districts. 

Colombo and Adams faced Ray-Pec, and their #1 seed doubles team. After a tough 0-6 loss in the first set, both players came back strong winning 6-3 and then 10-1 in the tiebreaker.

Come out to the next match to support!