Cindy Yan

JV Girls take a break under the tree between their matches.

“1, 2, 3, RAMS!” These are the enthusiastic cheers, which occur before every match, that resonate from the twenty-or-so huddled Junior Varsity (JV) tennis girls. The girls quickly give each other an anxious, but eager smile and head toward their assigned tennis court. Throughout the whole match, this energy never fails to cease.

On September 29, Ladue JV Girls Tennis played their second to last match at MICDS, according to Ladue Activities. In this match, sophomore Cindy Yan played the number one double spot on the JV team with her partner, Jimena Copeland. Despite the heat, the girls still tried their best.

“Today was pretty hot and humid,” Yan said. “I was sweating on the way there. We started at 3:30pm and I left around 5pm. [But] since we have a smaller team, a lot of people had to play twice. It’s pretty bad in this weather, so applause and kudos to them. So, at the latest, they ended around 6:30pm.”

For this season, the JV tennis team has a score of four wins and seven losses. Fortunately, there have been no injured players within the team. So when competing, depending on the skill level of other players, the girls can play for up to an hour against those who have similar expertise.

“A game process is whoever gets to eight games first,” Yan said. “We play a lot of really close games so it takes about an hour for each game. Today, we were slightly obliterated. We played against the top two and both of them were seniors, so we lost eight to three.”

Even after every match, the team doesn’t recognize themselves by their wins or losses. The positive mentality the team takes on doesn’t only make tennis a sport, but also an enjoyable experience for them all.

“Our coach is Mr. Webb, who teaches science at the middle school, ” Yan said. “I think I speak for everyone on the junior varsity team, when I say this about our coach. He really made tennis more about the game and enjoying our matches on the court, over winning or losing.”

For Yan, interacting and building connections among her teammates has made this tennis season evermore special, especially due to the limit of communication posed by the pandemic last season. Thus, she aims to end this tennis season on a good note.

“My favorite part about tennis is definitely the people on the team,” Yan said. “We’ve got some awesome people. This year, I got to know them a lot better, especially after last year [with] COVID and we didn’t get to really interact as much. But this year was different and I like getting to know people. So, our last match is tomorrow against Parkway. I’m hoping for a big dub tomorrow!”