Written By Eleanor Schnorr, this is her last contribution to The Advocate as a FGHS Senior. 

After far more practices in the gym than on the courts, hundreds of balls hit, and matches won, the Forest Grove Women’s Tennis Team has had a very successful season. With head coach T.J. Buehler, and Assistant Coach Andrew Garrett the team has had a great amount of support and helped lead the teams to victory.

The Varsity tennis team’s record overall this season was 7-3, which is the best it has been in years. They scored big wins in their match against McMinnville, who they had been wanting to be able to beat for years, and West Salem beating them both 6-2. They also were able to sweep 8-0 with McKay, North Salem, and McNary which were very big for the team.

Some big contributors to the team this year were the number one and two singles players Esther Vega, and Jacqueline Frawley, a senior and junior who were able to always put up a good fight throughout every match of the season. Coach Buehler says, “Esther moves as well as anyone in the state, honestly.” Along with the rest of the singles, there were the two Emilys at number three and four. Emily Lester and Emily Jones were both new to varsity this year and were a great addition to the team. For doubles at number one Stevie Walker and Claire Buehler contributed a number of wins going 12-2 for their overall record. After playing for four years together they knew what they were doing. At number two there was Vanessa Ramirez and Tania Garfias who communicated better than anyone on the team and could always be relied on to get wins for the team. At three and four there was Riley and Chelsea, and Victoria and Karla, who both were great partners for each other and helped make who the Women’s Tennis Team was as a whole. Being competitive at the three and four spots in both singles and doubles has really been a source of pride for our team,” said the coach. Because of all these players, as well as the alternates the women’s tennis team had great successes in their season.

Aside from the victories, the varsity team has piled up, the JV teams have done extremely well too. This year there was around fifty-five JV girls, which is a new record of girls out for tennis, that was split into two JV teams. Despite the high number and little amount of court space that didn’t stop the JV girls from winning matches. Forest Grove was also able to host their annual JV tournament inviting Sherwood, Tualatin, and Yamhill-Carlton. Forest Grove JV girls said, “it was a really fun experience having other schools not in our district to play against.” There was three divisions: gold which was the top of JV, silver which is intermediate JV, and bronze which is beginner. The winners of the tournament was a mix of Forest Grove and Yamhill-Carlton for the Gold, Tualatin won Silver, and Sherwood won bronze. Overall JV has done extremely well and it is the hope for it to continue to grow, and excel like it has over the years.

Because the season has come to the end, the team has had to say goodbye to some great seniors. This year there was eight seniors, which is more than the team has had in previous years. Seniors are Esther Vega, who next year is headed to OSU honors. Claire Buehler who is headed to the University of Montana, and her doubles partner Stevie Walker who is headed to Boston College. Vanessa Ramirez who is still deciding where she is going. Karla Chavez who is going to the University of Oregon, and her doubles partner Victoria Murguia who is headed to OSU. Sinclaire Leto who is going to Georgetown College, and JV player Kathryn Dedrickson who is going to the University of Rochester. These seniors have contributed a lot to the team throughout their years of tennis and will not be forgotten as they go off and do great things next year.

Overall as the tennis season has come to an end the tennis team should be very proud of their successes as a team, and as individual players, and look forward to many upcoming seasons ahead. Next year there will be another large group of seniors leading the team. Do I sense a district title in the future? We’ll just have to wait and see. Until next time, go viks.