The Palatine girl’s varsity tennis team hosted Dundee Crown in a non-conference meet on Wednesday afternoon, with the Pirates earning a clean sweep across all three singles and four doubles positions. The team earned their second straight 7-0 win after dispatching of conference rival Hoffman Estates on Tuesday. 

On what she was most proud of, head coach Christy Azriel said she “felt like we came out focused and had a lot of enthusiasm.” She added that “having won our match last night [against Hoffman Estates] helped us have some confidence for today’s match.” 

The Pirates came out firing, gaining early leads in each of their matches. Which helped them carry their momentum to the finish line. Coach Azriel was particularly happy with the strategy she saw being employed by all of her players.

“I think we played with a lot of good strategy today.” Coach Azriel said “I noticed that our number one doubles team [Senior Yunah Shin and Junior Maddie Monroe] were poaching a lot of the night and communicating with one another, which was really good to see. I noticed that with the second, third and fourth doubles that again, they were communicating with each other, which is an important skill in doubles. For the singles players, I noticed that they were utilizing what we’ve been working on in practice in the match, which was good to see.”

While all seven positions earned straight sets wins, Coach Azriel still believed the team could improve further as the season continued. She stressed the importance of translating the skills the team had been working on in practice into their matches. She also relayed the importance of coming into matches with confidence, even when faced with a team that has had a historically strong program.

While the team will certainly earn some confidence from its commanding victory, things don’t get any easier with the final conference match of the season on Sept. 26 on the road against Schaumburg. 

“Schaumburg will be a good match for us,” Coach Azriel said. “In order for us to win, we need to, again, come focused like we did today and to be confident and continue utilizing the strategies that we’re working on in practice.”

The team will hope for a third win in as many days against the Saxons, with the conference tournament not far off on the horizon on Oct 10.