The girls varsity tennis team fought hard at Waldstein Playground on Monday, March 30, but ultimately lost 4-1 to the Bishop Feehan Leprechauns.

The Warriors played five matches, three singles and two doubles. In her first match, freshman Cassandra Olszewski lost a tough match 2-0 in first singles. Thus, the Leprechauns scored the first point overall, soon followed by three more.

Sophomores Vera Varaksina and Ellen Kirakosyan had no luck in the second and third singles, both losing 2-0. Varaksina lost the first set 6-0 but showed some improvement, losing the second set 6-1. Kirakosyan said she thought she played good rallies in her match, the longest singles match of the day.

“I hope to continue being consistent, playing a good physical game and keep in mind the mental stuff because I really need to work on my mentality during the game,” Kirakosyan said.

The first doubles match, played by senior and captain Hallie Schneider and junior Molly Boshell, ultimately fell in the Leprechauns’ favor, and the Warriors trailed 4-0.

Finally, in the second doubles, freshman Talia Chin and sophomore Nina Ghael secured a point for the Warriors, winning their match 2-0. According to Chin, the first game started badly due to questionable calls that led to a 2-0 Leprechaun lead, but once a new official was brought over, the Warriors pulled ahead to win 6-2.

“It went really good. At first, it was hard because they were making weird calls, but then it got better,” Chin said.

The pair had a clean second set and won 6-0. Chin said she had a good experience overall, coming off a bagel (winning a match 6-0) in the last set.

“It was fun that we won 6-0 because that was the goal: to not lose any points in any games,” Chin said.

Head coach Keith Carson said the whole team played well, especially against a challenging team, and praised Ghael and Chin for their match.

“Our second doubles team of Nina Ghael and Talia Chin, they won their match very handily,” Carson said. “They won their match by a lot, so it was really good for them.”

Chin said her communication with Ghael’s has improved since their match last Thursday, as they’ve been able to work together more and get more comfortable, helping them succeed in their match.

“We communicated better today than we did on Thursday, and we were able to relax because it wasn’t our first match together,” Chin said.

Carson said the team is continuing to improve and believes the team can succeed with more practice and confidence.

“We’re getting better every single match. I think there’s some nerves in there, and we’re not playing to our full potential yet, but I have confidence that they will because they’re all really good players and work very hard,” Carson said.

Despite it being the beginning of the season, Krakosyan said the team has already improved.

“Everyone on the team has improved so much in just one week, so I feel we’re gonna be doing really well,“ Kirakosyan said.

The team’s roster consists of many freshmen, sophomores and juniors who Carson said will play better throughout the season as they gain more experience.

“We’re a pretty young team,” Carson said. “So we’re gonna get better every weekend. I’m confident that they’re gonna do better as the season goes on.”