Hi WO Tennis Fans, These young ladies have started the season strong. After earning a win yesterday with Forest Hills Central, the team has moved to 4-0 on the season, beating some of the State's top teams. Here's a quick overview of our matches so far: Grand Rapids Christian - Win 6-3 (6th in Division 3 last season) Holland Christian - Win 8-1 (7th in Division 3 last season) Jenison - Win 9-0 (Big Division 1 school) Forest Hills Central - Win 6-3 (4th in Division 2 last season) Match Overview: Evie Price was undeniably the match of the day. After 2 hours and 49 minutes of hard hitting, creative shotmaking, and physicality, Evie found herself down 5-7 in the third set superbreaker. Fatigued, but unwilling to show it, Evie grinded out the last 5 points to take the match as the sun set behind us. As a sophomore, Evie is not a team captain...but she is DEFINITELY a team leader. Danielle Lebster, Jessica Zhang, and Kayla Jones scores deceptively make it look like their matches were easy, but in truth, they were hard fought, with each girl doing an amazing job to post strong score lines. They take the court with confidence no matter the situation, and quite frankly, they are a joy to watch. I'd also like to highlight their ability to mentally lock into a game plan. Once they decide on their plan, they simply execute over and over and over. The amount of coaching they require during a contest is incredibly low. If you see me talking to them on a changeover, it's usually just been to say hello and to tell them how impressed we all are with them. At 1 doubles, Eden and Maggie played an incredible match. While FHC took this contest, we still saw what makes both Eden and Maggie so strong. Teamwork and strong communication from start to finish. Creative shotmaking and volleys, and the ability to constantly problem solve. They now sit at 3-1 on the year playing our top doubles spot...definitely the start we were looking for out of these two! At 2 doubles, Kallyn Gaul and Lovelle Kim played what I believe to be their best match of the year. Both girls have been working through illness this past week. While they've been winning, you could tell that there was still more potential there. Their energy was higher yesterday, and you can start to see glimpses of their true high end potential. I was impressed with how they came out strong, and how they maintained their level throughout. I suspect they will continue to improve as they full get to 100% health, which as a coach gets me really pumped, because it's already looking terrific. Based on scores for FHC this season, Aleah Feliu and Olivia Smith took on what is likely their strongest flight yesterday. Despite the score, the level was high. More importantly, we're starting to see Freshman Olivia Smith break into her unbelievable potential on court. There are flashes of the types of movements at the net that makes me believe that play is starting to slow down for her out there. She is processing her opportunities more quickly, and she is acting on them. Senior captain Aleah Feliu's guidance is a big reason why. Aleah's leadership on that time has been terrific, and was the reason the two were paired together. Speaking of Freshman who are exploding with potential, Audrey Anderson and Mallory Paff ironically played their best match yesterday in their first loss of the season. Their opponents were two upperclassmen who a year ago made the State semifinals together as partners at 4th doubles. FHC won the match 12-10 in a third set superbreaker, in a match that went back and forth from the start. The girls are finding their voice on court, literally and figuratively, exuding amazing energy and grit. At 5th doubles Senior captain Kate Greco and Freshman Haylee Geerlings also posted their best result of the season. The energy and speed I saw from Kate was perhaps the best I've ever seen from her. Like Aleah is doing at 3rd doubles, Kate has become a senior leader on court in an obvious and visible way. And like Olivia at 3, we are seeing Haylee start to unleash her potential. It was easy for her to remain consistent strokes throughout the match, realizing that a medium paced shot that always gets past the net person is often best. And her footwork patterns are picking up fast. She quickly moved back for deep balls, and shot up to grab the short balls. Incredible progress for a freshman only through 4 matches. Thanks to all who drove out to Ada to watch the match, once again it was a lot of fun to spend time with you all. Here are the complete results of today's match. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central - 3, Holland West Ottawa - 6, Singles: No. 1 - Evie Price, Holland West Ottawa def. Chloe Cox, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, 7-5 , 2-6 , 10-7 No. 2 - Danielle Lebster, Holland West Ottawa def. Quinn Breslin, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, 6-2 , 6-0 No. 3 - Jessica Zhang, Holland West Ottawa def. Sadie Koffman, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, 6-1 , 6-0 No. 4 - Kayla Jones, Holland West Ottawa def. Annaliese Hoffman, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, 6-3 , 6-2 Doubles: No. 1 - Clare Knoester, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central - Ella Sanford, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central def. Eden Hamilton, Holland West Ottawa - Maggie Rothstein, Holland West Ottawa, 6-3 , 6-2 No. 2 - Kallyn Gaul, Holland West Ottawa - Lovelle Kim, Holland West Ottawa def. Grace Chen, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central - Aubrey Gallagher, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, 6-4 , 6-4 No. 3 - Anna Sapp, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central - Kylie Hatfield, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central def. Aleah Feliu, Holland West Ottawa - Olivia Smith, Holland West Ottawa, 6-0 , 6-3 No. 4 - Abby Gleason, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central - Emmary McKee, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central def. Audrey Anderson, Holland West Ottawa - Mallory Paff, Holland West Ottawa, 4-6 , 6-3 , 12-10 No. 5 - Kate Greco, Holland West Ottawa - Haylee Geerlings, Holland West Ottawa def. Faith Pawlowski, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central - JJ Marsiglia, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, 6-3 , 6-1