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Girls Tennis Looking To Defend New England Title
St. Luke’s Girls Tennis is looking to build on the success of last year—with many of the team returning, as well as a couple of new additions adding even more depth to the squad this season.
GVT capped off the 2016 campaign by winning the New England Class C championship and, after only graduating one player, will be looking to defend the title this spring.
Head Coach Brinley Ehlers is extremely happy with how things have gone so far and the talent she has at her disposal: “Preseason has been great. We had 11 girls go to Disney Orlando for spring training, eight of which were returning players. Training there is excellent and with the additional indoor time we have had at Four Seasons Racquet Club, we have really been able to hit a lot of tennis balls.”
The program is in an extremely healthy place currently with 12 returning Varsity players giving Ehlers an overall squad of 14 girls and a very competitive JV program. The veteran coach, who is starting her 20th season with St. Luke’s tennis, is clearly excited to see what the group can achieve: “I have a returning group that is so strong and I’m lucky that they have been with me for years. My goal remains to be the best we can be in the FAA which is so competitive as we play GA, Sacred Heart and Hopkins. To pull a win against some of these big teams is another one of our goals. I want to get into that top level and challenge the big three.”
Despite so many players coming back, Ehlers suggests there might be a fresh look to the line-up and the opportunity to mix things up over the course of the season: “We have had a lot of match play during practice as we are still trying to find doubles teams that really mesh together. But we are lucky that we have so many girls who are all at a similar level so all our practices are really competitive.” She added: “We have Elizabeth Laub at #1 singles. She’s not giving that up and it’s awesome to see. Second singles is Cameron Stonehouse who has played there for a long time too. At three and four we are mixing it up a little bit because Cayley Stonehouse has expressed a desire to play doubles and has formed a great partnership with Cierra Kitt. They have really good communication and energy together. Hannah Amendola, Caroline Nevin and Maddie Harris are the girls vying for the third and fourth spots.”
The 2017 squad will be led by senior captains Cayley Stonehouse, Cameron Stonehouse and Emma Tregallas and Ehlers believes the experience of this trio will serve the team well: “Emma is playing her fifth year with us as she played as an eighth-grader and Cameron and Cayley have played four years so they all bring a wealth of experience. They all came to Florida with us, too, which was great to see and I think that set the tone for the younger kids on the team.”
The St. Luke’s Girls Tennis team suffered a tough 3-4 loss to Rye Country Day School in its opening match before a great comeback win at Greens Farms Academy on Friday 4/6. The team was down 1-3 but pulled out wins in the last three matches to seal a 4-3 victory and improve to 1-1 on the season.
Next match takes the Storm on the road where they take on The Canterbury School on Thursday 4/13 at 4:15pm
St. Luke’s School is a secular (non-religious), private school in New Canaan, CT for grades 5 through 12 serving over 40 towns in Connecticut and New York. Our exceptional academics and diverse co-educational community foster students’ intellectual and ethical development and prepare them for top colleges. St. Luke’s Leading with Humanity curriculum builds the commitment to serve and the confidence to lead.
