Consistency seems to be the name of the game for the Manhattan High Girls Varsity tennis team, as they place first overall in the Seaman Invitational. The fact that they have regularly beat teams in every meet they have competed in up to this point, heavily supports the idea that they are a consistent team.

“I think we did really well [during the meet],”  sophomore Joanna Park said. “There were some really long rallies in the games, and we had some aggressive net playing. Consistency was really a big part of our focus, and being aggressive at the net. I think I kind of let down my consistency during the middle of the first match, we kind of got to relaxed and stuff, so we ended up letting them get a few games, but we adjusted and got our consistency back.”

Sophomore Kira Schartz and Park, along with seniors Neely Joyce and senior Reagan Poulson, placed first in number one and two doubles. Sophomore Kate McGee placed second along with freshman Kayla Lei placing first. Consistency was an important factor in MHS having the ability to place first, but it was far from the only thing that helped them win.  

“We really cheered each other on, we super supportive of each other,” Park said. “Especially when I was playing. It made me want to work harder and focus more which was really nice to have the whole team building each other up like that.”

The team has showed just how steady their consistency is by placing first in three of the four meets they had this year and placing second in just one. While there certainly was a lot to say about the teams strengths, little can be said for their weaknesses.

“I think the team did really well overall,” McGee said. “I really enjoyed how all of us played. We are at a point to where we are so good this season, that I don’t really see an issue. Now it’s just getting repetitions, getting better and working off of that.”

Often times teams don’t see very much success at the start of the season. On occasion it could take weeks, multiple games and extremely large amounts of practice time before a team is able to see consistent success. With all of the success the MHS girls Varsity tennis team is seeing, it raises the question, how are they seeing this much success this early in the season? The answer is simple, positivity and light spirits.  

“[The team] has inside jokes for what we need to get done or what we need to improve on,” McGee said. “For example consistency, depth or like soft hands soft feet for when we play at the net. The inside jokes help give us a lighter spirit when we are playing because you can get down on yourself when you are playing, you can let your emotions get ahead of you and you have to stay positive.”

The team’s next meet is on Tuesday with number one singles and doubles playing at MHS West campus, and number two singles and doubles playing at City Park.