Over the course of fall, Palatine High School’s girls tennis team had a season full of determination and improvement. From the frosh-soph to varsity level, the team has grown closer and stronger overall.

“We always, across varsity to JV to fresh-soph, have girls that are coming to learn something new,” Coach Sydney Hoening-Coyl said. “We have a lot of girls that are willing to put in the hard work, and that are here to just be a part of something at Palatine.” 

From Friday games to tennis team traditions, the Pirates also had a fun season filled with team bonding and friendship. 

“I think my favorite memory every year is our senior day practice,” Hoening-Coyl said. “The lower-level girls say speeches about our girls, give them gifts and make them signs. We practice as a program and play games that the seniors want to do. The girls generally have a really fun time.”

This season, the Pirates had a competitive conference. Especially with an influx of new players within the tennis program, the matchups were particularly difficult, making the season a mental battle. 

“Our players are really resilient, and the fact that they look at growth and how well they are doing and not comparing themselves to others is really important,” Hoening-Coyl said.

Even better, freshman Aisha Parikh advanced to the qualifying match of the IHSA sectional tournament, the first to do so in nearly 3 years. She was seeded fifth overall.

“I feel like this is a huge deal for the program,” Hoening-Coyl said. “It’s something that us coaches are really proud of, as well as for everybody who was on our sectional team.”

Next season, girls tennis is looking to push for that sectional qualifying match across varsity, while also maintaining and recruiting as many girls as possible to have a larger roster to work with throughout the entire program.