Tennis team serves up an unbelievable season

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By Cala Fils

It’s been a long time in coming, but it was worth the wait.

For the first time in many years, Irvington High School’s girls tennis team, known to many as the Lady Blue Knights, won their conference championship with an overall season record of 11-4.

The season started out with a defeat against Cedar Grove and members of the team, including Coach Derrick Tomasino, expressed concern. The Lady Blue Knights had doubts on how their season was going to turn out.

Defeating East Orange Campus twice helped to build up the team’s confidence and team spirit. East Orange campus has always been a major team rival, and East Orange won the championship in 2010. “Defeating them was like tasting victory,” stated Shirlena Coke, a junior on the team.

Coach Tomasino admitted he was mistaken about any doubts he might have had. “The girls played so well this year,” said Coach Tomasino. “I shouldn’t have underestimated (the team) in the first place.”

This year, all of the girls did their absolute best, especially the starters. This helped inspire everyone involved. “Seeing the team do its best, fighting for each point, gave me the courage to do my very best,” stated Ciara, a sophomore on the team.

As the season ended, three seniors also ended their high school careers playing high school tennis.  Sophonie Milord and Kedjah Patch (second doubles) and Cala Fils (second singles). “We did it,” exclaimed the seniors.

Coach Tomasino was proud of the entire team’s performance, but singled out two for special recognition. “To be honest, this year we don’t have one most valuable player but two: Cala Fils (second singles) and Trenissa Anderson (third singles),” said Coach Tomasino.

Coach Tomasino stated that he is proud of the girls and also very appreciative of their hard work. He is now looking forward to an absolutely great season with the boys tennis team, the Blue Knights, in the spring of 2012.