Since the opening of Lakes Community High School in 2004, girls tennis has been a part of the district. The team originally started as a combined team for District 117. JV tennis players had to drive over to the local park to play because Antioch only had four courts. It wasn’t until 2005, Lakes had enough players to form their own team.

Bryan Plinske has been the only Lakes varsity tennis coach since the program split from Antioch. “Plinske was like the showrunner for getting tennis off the ground at [Lakes},” shared Coach McDonald. When the Lakes team started, it consisted of around 20 to 22 players. Of the team, Lakes had eight varsity starting players and eight JV starting players. Throughout the years these numbers stayed the same.

That was until COVID-19 hit and almost everything about school and sports changed. “Right after covid for the first time we couldn’t fill a full JV team,” said Coach Plinske. Although it wasn’t the same, the team continued to practice during this strange time. That was until “last year … we had some 35, 36 players [where] we had some JV two matches,” shared Coach Plinske.

The original attempt was just to get more kids playing tennis again, but the 2023 season was the first time they had a JV and JV two coach. The amount of players increased significantly not just from covid, but also from when the team started. In the 2023 season, there are now around 46 players.

Varsity senior, Kendall Rung, joined the tennis team her freshman year. When she first joined, there were very few players compared to her senior season. Rung prefers being a player of a larger team because of the social aspect. “You make more friends that you have to cheer you on. It’s like a good motivator to work harder,” said Rung.

A larger team comes with many mental benefits, as having a good mental state is vital for exceeding in tennis. Alongside having a larger team comes a larger audience. “My freshman year no one came, but now the word has gotten out and way more people come and watch,” said Rung.

There is no known exact reason as to why so many people have decided to try tennis. Many players may say it’s because the word finally got out and people wanted to try playing. Others may say it’s because of flexibility around the academic part of student’s lives. Whatever the answer may be, it has been amazing for not only the school, but also the players.

The team has done very well so far of the 2023 season. With a current record of 6-4-0, the team continues to work hard to continue improving their skills and grow as a team. Girls tennis has finally got the recognition it deserves and will hopefully continue to grow in the amount of players in the future.

To come see the Girl’s Tennis Team in action, come to the NLCC Conference on October 6th at Lakes!