Girls' tennis leaves Northwest in the dust

The Blair girls' varsity tennis team had an easy win over Northwest in their final divisional game, rendering them divisional champions for the second year in a row. The Blazers (7-2) won six out of the seven matches they played against the Jaguars (2-6).

Blair's four singles players were incredibly consistent, occasionally dropping a game or two, but for the most part surging past the Jaguars at ease. "All the singles players were very strong today," coach David Ngbea said. "I'm glad they always come through."

During her match, freshman and second singles player Emma Shillerstrom experienced a sudden back injury, which forced her onto the bench. After several minutes of rest and ice, Shillerstrom made the decision to get back onto the court, and proceeded to win her match 6-2, 6-3. "Luckily I don't think I played any worse after I got hurt," Shillerstrom said. "If [Emma] had decided to stop playing, we would have had to default," Ngbea said. "I'm very proud that she felt better and opted to keep playing."

Blair's doubles teams showed more of a struggle, with the third doubles team losing their match and the first doubles team having to play a third tiebreaker set. Juniors and team captains Arianna Sankar and Daliah Barg ended up proving victorious, with a score of 7-5, 2-6, 6-0. "We struggled with our first two games," Barg said. "However, I think we played the best we played all season."

This game was the final divisional game for the season, cementing the Blair girls' tennis team's place as the Division 2 divisional champions for the second year in a row. "It's beyond belief that we can call ourselves back-to-back divisional champs," Ngbea said. "Coaching such a great team is simply fantastic." The team's impressive victory goes to show that their pre-game cheer of "Our team is red-hot!" definitely rings true.

The girls' tennis team will play its final home game on Thursday, Oct. 2 against Thomas S. Wootton High School.

Editor's note: Daliah Barg is a staff writer for Silver Chips Print.