On Tuesday, Oct. 7, the varsity tennis team went to playoffs for the first time in the school’s history, playing against Highland Park at the Z-Plex. In the tennis season, playoffs is the stage where all the highest placing teams from the Frisco ISD matches move on to play schools from other districts. Emerson lost the match against Highland Park, concluding this year’s season.
Going to playoffs for the first time in the school’s history was a landmark achievement, but it wasn’t achieved without dedication throughout the season.
“It was a pretty good feeling because we worked so hard this year,” Tennis Captain, Nihit Sapre, 12, said. “We did so many morning practices. We stayed after school. And I think that the fact that it was the first time ever, considering that our team has never made it, is just a really good feeling.”
Being in this new environment against new schools put the team in a more challenging position. They played Highland Park, the seventh best ranked tennis team in their class across Texas.
“The intensity was way higher than all the other schools,” Tennis Captain, Gautum Panguluri, 12, said. “When we went to playoffs the energy was completely different. …You [had] to be locked in from the first point on.”
Aware of the demanding circumstances, the coaches had to put their best players forward to meet the other team on the court.
“Our coach specifically made our lineup to be a bit more aggressive which helped us, I think, perform better than we would have if we just kept our normal lineup,” Isaac Kim, 12, said.
But within the tennis matches, it was up to the team captains to keep morale up.
“Initially we would start off every match with a big breakout, and it was the captain’s energy that got us into the game,” Viswa Konjeti, 12, said.
As this season concludes, the next one looks promising. Overcoming odds to make playoffs for the first time this year, the school has a good chance to return next year so long as they maintain focus and team spirit.
“We should continue focusing on building the chemistry of the team and also just playing our game, forgetting about what everyone else says,” Konjeti said. “Looking back, we were considered an underdog in the district. We weren’t ranked … high enough and we beat some teams which were top 10 … We were pretty much an underdog and we just worked our way up.”
