On Wednesday 6^th, 2015, the Girls varsity tennis team faced off against the strong Taft team. The girls delivered great performance, yet came up short 2-5 with a few very close, exciting games in spite of missing several key players due to injury.

As the match began, No. 2 and No. 3 doubles played consistent tennis, yet lost to their strong opponents. There was a little bit of hope when senior captain, Kristine Gegeshidze ’15 and Grace Sundstrom ’15 dominated at the doubles No. 1 spot, 8-3. At the end of the doubles matches, however, Kent ended up one-point short.

The Kent girls continued to play quality tennis in the singles matches. New third-former Christina Khalil ’18 was on top of her game. Her effective net-plays and consistent backhands resulted in a dominating victory 6-2, 6-3 at the No. 3 singles. Emilie DeWael ’15 struggled at the No. 3 position, losing to her opponent in two straight sets. Andie Marczewski ’15 played intelligent tennis yet came up short against the experienced opponent at No. 6 position in two sets as well. The star player and captain, Gegeshidze, once again did not disappoint the team. Her performance was as flawless as ever, as she hit countless of winners and aces, beating Taft’s best player, 6-1, 6-1.

Kent was down 2-3 and the attentions were refocused on the final two singles to determine the outcome of the match. No. 5 singles, Emily Burnett ’17, took an early lead in the first set tiebreaker, 7-6. She played intelligent tennis, but could not finish her opponent in the second set, 4-6. It was an exciting game but ended in a disappointing loss as she came up short in the super tiebreaker.

Head Coach Ober was disappointed at the outcome, yet highlighted the fact the girls played beautiful tennis and there were many close games. It was a tough defeat, yet the girls delivered impressive performances and have plenty of time left in the season to make improvements to their game.