Defending champions from last year’s Association of International Schools in Asia (AISA) tournament, the varsity boys and girls tennis teams placed first at this year’s AISA tournament, which was hosted by Senri Osaka International School (SOIS) from Oct. 17-18. The varsity girls tennis team continued its winning streak from the KAIAC conference games while the boys were one game short of being undefeated, losing only to Seoul Foreign School.
“Our [tennis] team always has a great attitude during practices,” said Ashley Park (12), varsity girls tennis co-captain. “We were able to have such a successful season because of our optimistic approach to everything and each player’s individual efforts in the tennis team. I believe that the constant and cumulative effort during practices made us stronger as a team and as an individual. Not only did the great amount of effort positively affect our results, but it also boosted our spirit during matches.”
All members of the varsity girls and boys tennis teams advanced either to the finals or the semi-finals during the AISA tournament. For the girls’ doubles and boys’ singles finals games, two SIS teams played against each other. In the girls’ doubles, Sarah Kim (10) and Cinji Lee (9) placed first and in the boys’ singles, Cody Kim (11), co-captain of the varsity boys tennis team, brought home first place.
Furthermore, in the girls’ singles final between Ashley and Kana Yokoyama from SOIS, Ashley placed first, winning the match with a very slight margin. According to Amy Ryu (12), varsity girls tennis co-captain, this game was especially meaningful because Ashley and Kana had competed against one another since sophomore year, but Ashley had always been defeated.
“The girls’ singles finals game between Ashley and Kana was the most incredible game I’ve ever seen,” Sarah said. “Because all our players were cheering their hearts out on the sidelines, the moment when she finally secured the win was very touching. [Our team] had never been that unified, as shown by the way in which everyone was genuinely happy for each others’ victories.”
According to Brent Chesterman, varsity girls tennis team coach, the players had put in a tremendous amount of effort not only during the season but also during off-season, with most of the players practicing an average of six days a week for a minimum of two hours per day.
“Team effort and spirit have everything to do with our team’s success this season,” said Amy Thompson, varsity boys tennis team coach. “At AISA, we were the only team that cheered each other on and watched each other’s games. As our season comes to an end, both Coach Chesterman and I want the players to stay humble, yet be extremely proud of their fantastic results. I have no doubt that our team will end up doing well in the upcoming KAIAC tournament.”