Tennis teammates Mary Colombo and Zoey Harabe discuss the team’s future, its track record, and new strategy.

For the Barstow Girls Tennis Team, the season ahead looks to be a difficult, yet exciting challenge. 

“Pre-season has been going well,” says Zoey Hrabe (‘23). “We’ve been hitting for about a week and a half now.” This is Hrabe’s first year. 

However, in the absence of a few of their most talented players (now graduated seniors) the team has begun to reinvent their strategies. 

“We’re all doing the best we can while having fun,” Hrabe continues. “My goals for the season are to get more experience in doubles, improve my game all around, and have fun.”

As for the rest of the team, they also seem to be finding direction in the absence of last year’s seniors. Mary Colombo (‘23), reflects on the differences between the seasons.  

“​​So far, the team is doing really well,” says Colombo. “We have a couple new varsity and JV players that are looking very promising and ready for season. Everyone is super excited to just hit each other everyday and compete in our upcoming tournaments.” 

The Girls Tennis lost three varsity players in the last year, leaving space for the new team members to step up. With the first tournament only a week and a half after the beginning of the school year, the team has needed extra hard work in the past two and a half weeks in order to reorganize. However, Colombo believes that they’ll do well regardless. 

“We’re all already hitting harder than this time last year, as we’re all getting back into rhythm,” she continued. “Sam Hembree and Sanjana Akkulugari have already proven themselves as positive additions to the team.”

Barstow Tennis will only play duals with other local teams, such as Pembroke or Notre Dame Sion, until the district tournament. At the district competition, individuals can advance in either singles or doubles, allowing those successful to continue on to the State tournament. At both the state and district competitions, Barstow teammates might end up competing against each other, since the bracket only advances individual pairs or singles. 

“Unfortunately, we lost 3 varsity players, but Aishi’s all-around consistency, Zoey’s banger returns, and Lia’s infamous backhand swinger are all setting us above many other Missouri teams,” Colombo said. “Doubles is still definitely going to be our strong suit because of how much we practice coordinating our movements on the court.” Aishi Sethi (‘23) and Lia Adams (‘24) also played last year and are returning. 

This confidence is not unfounded; last year, the varsity team managed to win 1st at the Team state competition, where teams play multiple matches against another team. 

“I would like to see us still make it through districts and succeed again at State,” Colombo said. “I’m also hoping for bigger show outs during our duals and tournaments at Barstow to support the team. Sadly this is my last year, so Aishi and I are going to try to make it our best season yet.” 

According to a study done by John Hopkins University, athletes perform better with a crowd. With the absence of COVID restrictions, Barstow students can now safely go and support their friends in person at any sporting event that they can travel to. Watching your school’s teams play is a great way to be involved with your school, and also to possibly even improve the teams performance. 

Barstow Girls Tennis will play in the Great 8 Tournament on Saturday August 26th. You can find the team’s full schedule on Barstow’s website.