The Perrysburg Yellow Jackets Girls Tennis Team has wrapped up their regular season. They finished the year with a record of 12 wins and 5 losses.
The Jackets placed third in the Northern Lakes League overall. Senior Sydney Onest led the team with a second place finish at first singles, which secured her First Team All League Honors. Sophomore Mona Abdul-Aziz finished with some of her best matches all season while finishing in second place at second singles. She was named on the Second Team All League.
Third singles, played by Senior Laney Hamilton, and first doubles, played by Senior Julia Fujita and Sophomore Devika Bhavsar, placed in third place. Both courts were just a few points from playing in the final match. Laney and Devika were named Third Team All League while Julia was named Second Team All League. Senior Grace Reiter and Junior Rachel Ward made it to the final match in second doubles only to fall just short of their ultimate goal finishing in second place. Grace was named Third Team All League.
After an upset of the Anthony Wayne Generals in the first round of the Ohio Tennis Coaches Association Team Tournament, the Jackets fell short against the St. Ursula Arrows in the second round. Sydney Onest won at first singles and the first doubles team of Grace Reiter and Julia Fujita were able to win their court as well. Unfortunately, the team was not able to pull out a second upset and the Jackets lost 3 - 2.
With the league championships and team tournament behind them, the Lady Jackets turn their attention to the individual state tournament. Players must win multiple matches at sectionals to advance to districts. Only the top two players/doubles teams advance from districts to the state finals. While all seven players have a legitimate chance to advance to the district tournament, a few players have their goals set higher.
Julia Fujita and Grace Reiter played together in the state tournament last year. They advanced to the district tournament, but were defeated in the first round. They look to progress further in districts with another year of experience.
Sydney Onest is no stranger to qualifying for the state finals. If she is able to return again this year, she will have qualified for states in all four years of her high school career. To do so, she will need to outmatch the top singles players in the area.
All League Honors, League Championships and State Tournaments are great measures of a team’s success, but the players are most thankful for the opportunity to play. In this sense, their season was everything they had hoped it would be.
Congratulations to the team for a great season and best of luck in sectionals, districts and beyond!