“Family” is the word that the FTHS girls’ tennis team never ceases to chant through wins and losses alike.

“FTHS girls’ tennis is more than a just a team. It’s a family. That is what sets us apart from all the other teams we play against,” says senior co-captain Jess Digrazia. “We value talent as much as we value sportsmanship and friendship.”

This season was  one to remember as the team enjoyed many wins and fought hard to make it to the second round of the state tournament, something that has been achieved only a couple of times in FTHS history. The team earned the tenth seed in the Shore Conference tournament and made it to the second round where they lost a challenging match against St. John Vianney. Key members of the starting line up were newcomers Melisa Vukovich, who played at first singles and Asha Prabhat, who played second singles and returning sophomore, Stephanie Appow at third singles. The tenacious team consisting of senior co-captain Lauren McAlarney and senior Vahini Talamati played at first doubles, and at second doubles, the team had the intimidating duo of senior Emily Eng and junior Preethi Chandran. The season was definitely “transitional” as Coach Orlinsky described it because of the addition of so many great players this year and the many changes to the starting lineup.

The team worked hard from mid August to the end of October and hustled through everything from three hour practices in the blazing sun to three hour matches in windy, October weather. Coach Orlinsky stressed the importance of hard work from day one by always reminding the team that “hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” Every win as well as every loss was felt by each member of the team because of the family-like bond the team had. The girls ended a tough season filled with back to back matches with an impressive record of 10-2 in their division and 13-8 overall. The highlights of the season include two wins over cross town rival Freehold Boro as well as 5-0 wins over Manalapan, Brick Township, Colts Neck, and Neptune. The team’s success would not have been possible without their ability to work cohesively and the positive, encouraging attitudes maintained by all of the girls throughout the season.

Junior, Ashley Angiolini exemplifies exactly these characteristics as she states, “Everyone says that practicing and working hard is what makes you a winner, but I think if you have the people who you love around you, you already won. And that’s why we did as well as we did.”

Participating in sports is not always all about playing and winning; it is about developing teamwork skills as well as building character. Tennis provides a chance to acquire these skills and build good character as it is a game that requires a lot of mental thinking as well as integrity since it up to the players to follow the honor system and make fair calls. The girls’ tennis team definitely learned from every match and improved greatly along the way as well.

Senior Richa Sandeep sums up her thoughts about the season. “I think we had such a great season because of the fact that our focus was not winning. We were not that team that neglected everything else simply to win. Tennis is a sport. It is meant to be fun. We played with integrity, class, and heart. And I think that is the reason behind our success. Because we focused on the truly important things and everything else just simply fell into place.”