Throughout the season, the SHS Girls’ tennis team has been filled with many challenges and achievements. Qualifiers from Salida High School were in Colorado Springs from May 6 to May 9 for the Colorado State Championships.
One member of the tennis team, Junior Clara Harris, expressed her pride in their successes this season. She and her doubles partner, Freshman Shelby Miller won all of their matches, often scoring 8-0 or 6-0. She mentioned that the two once had a very close win, with a final score of 9-7. “We were down for nearly the whole match, but after some tips from my coach and encouragement from Shelby, we pulled through,” Harris said.
Her favorite part of the season was bonding with her teammates, Miller. “I think that our friendship is what made us so successful,” Harris said. Harris explained that one of the most difficult parts of being on the team was balancing academic work with the sport, especially because Junior Varsity had more matches during the school day this season.
Junior Lily Egbert competed at the State Tennis Championships with sophomore Maci Pridemore. “It’s awesome to be from a small 3A school competing with private schools and big 5A schools,” Egbert said. Seven girls from the team competed in Regionals, with five qualifying for state. At State, doubles partners Egbert and Pridemore, juniors Litzy DeJesus-Torres and Elena McBride, and sophomores Zailee Saari and Eliot Miller took fifth place in the competition out of 16 schools.
