Serving up Fun: A feature on three of the Blue/White tennis teams and their traits this season

Sophomores Jordan O’Brien and Maggie McCarthy should be paying attention to their tennis match, not talking about dinner reservations for Homecoming. They should be concentrating on their foot placement, not talking about purchasing a corsage for O’Brien’s date. But nonetheless as the tennis ball flies onto their side of the net for what feels like the thousandth time, O’Brein and McCarthy are distracted.

“Tennis is a lot less serious for all of us,” O’Brien said. “We’re not the best team but none of us really care about being the best. We just like having fun together since we aren’t concerned about winning or losing.”

This season the Backhand Babes want to make a new tradition of sharing a meal together — lunch at a restaurant or dinner at someone’s house. O’Brien knows the little moments her team has made this season is the reason why they have had a successful year so far.

Chemistry teacher and Head Blue/White Team Coach Susan Hallstrom has noticed the conversations between the girls on and off the court.

“The [Backhand Babes] is a team with a good mix of personalities, and they’re all very social with other Blue/White teams,” Hallstrom said. “They’re very supportive of everybody and will do anything when I ask them to help out with matches.”

Struggling to find her tennis ball on the court, sophomore Kinzley Frey started to feel a throbbing pain in her head. At first she dismissed it as a small headache — a result of several matches in 100-degree weather with little water. But as her vision tunneled she realized it may be more than just dehydration. 

Standing just meters away from her, sophomore Scarlett Stamos could tell that Frey was in pain, the look on her face was enough. Jumping up to replace Frey in the match Stamos played the rest of the time for her teammate — even though she didn’t have to.

“I felt really horrible that day, like I was going to faint, and knew I couldn’t finish my doubles match,” Frey said. “Later I found out I had a small bit of heat exhaustion, but luckily my teammate Scarlett Stamos was able to sub in for me and finish off the game.”

Hallstrom has seen the individuals encourage each other throughout the season.

“They’re a good group of leaders that are always supportive and a huge help,” Hallstrom said. “I always see them cheering each other on and staying until the very end to help out around the court.”

From subbing in with little warning or cheering on teammates during 5 p.m. matches, Frey feels like her team has the most connection between players. 

“Our team is super welcoming of each other and we don’t hold each other to our faults,” Frey said. “One week we’ll do super well and the next we might lose, but that’s okay because we all work as a team to get closer to each other.”

Seniors Lauren Peugeot and Leah Sherry give each other a quick glance as they walk onto the court for their first Blue/White team tennis match of the season. The crowd became quiet as Sherry raised her hand to serve the ball — only adding to her nerves. Peugeot whispers in Sherry’s ear that they’re ready for this. After all, they’ve trained all summer.

Taking lessons from 2023 state champion and East alum Greta Stechschulte last summer, Sherry and Peugeot learned how to improve their volleys and tips on how to lead their team to victory at the annual Blue/White team tournament.

“Whenever Lauren and I are stressed in a match or anxious about what move to make next we always say to each other, ‘What would Greta do?’” Sherry said. “She helped us to improve our tennis game, but we also grew closer as teammates and friends this summer.”

Kiss My Ace 3.0 is a generational team: growing over three years. Throughout this time, the girls have added many new members and friends to their group. Four freshmen joined their team this year, making the current team a blend of veterans and new players.

Senior Addison Jones, who joined the team last season, feels the passion and enthusiasm the team passes on each year.

“We wanted to continue the legacy of our team, so we added four freshmen and now they can form Kiss My Ace 4.0,” Jones said. “Our main goal for this season is just to win the tournament as a team.”