Girls tennis, originally a spring sport, is now a fall sport as of this school year. This change was implemented by Athletic Director Kevin Versen, and Head of School Laura Danforth, along with input from the team’s head coach, Greg Lesser. Although it was clear that this would affect girls who played both tennis in the spring and a fall sport, the switch was beneficial for the girls tennis program according to Versen, Danforth and Lesser.

The change allowed for more practice time since four teams, boys varsity and junior varsity as well as girls varsity and junior varsity, were sharing seven tennis courts between 30 players in the spring season. Also, according to Lesser, there is better weather in the fall season for the sport, as well as more practice time because of the week of preseason.

Lesser said, “The extra practice time and court space compared to the spring season has provided more individual work for players and the improvement is already visible earlier on in the season.”

Even though this change benefited the girls on the team, it did not benefit girls who were already playing a fall sport. Three girls left the tennis team to play other sports while four others were forced to quit other sports to play tennis.

Versen said, “The coaches and athletic staff are fully supportive of the decisions that any of the girls made about switching sports.”

Sophie Cohen, a senior who decided to play volleyball, said, “It was a hard decision to decide which sport to play, but since I play tennis outside of school, I decided it was best to play more of a team sport as a senior.”

Senior Mary Sulavik, who originally played soccer in the fall, switched to tennis, said, “even though I enjoy both the sports ands teams a lot, tennis stood out because I improved over the summer and I developed a greater passion for the sport.”

Though the tennis team’s switch to the fall season has meant leaving the Fairchester Athletic Association League, they still play local schools such as Riverdale, Hackley and Fieldston, members of the Ivy League Prep School League. The team recently won its first match against Portledge, 3-2, at home.