Lady'stennisexceedsexpectations

by Stephanie Masucci assistant a&e editor

A tennis court with six female athletes was seen under the hot August sun. Preseason was beginning and a few months of hard work were in the forecast for this team that was low in numbers.

"We started the season out very thin. We had a group of inexperienced players and only a few older ones," head coach Reggie Day said.

Throughout Day's career at Cabrini he has led his team along on 11 straight winning seasons. His low numbers this year made him believe his team was not going to be as successful as it has been in the past.

The girls pulled together though and surprised him.

"I thought we would be lucky to win one game. By the end of the last weekend of PAC play, if we would have won we would have finished in the top five," Day said.

Sophomore Melissa Shannon explained the emotions that grew during the season between the team. "We had a rough start due to the variety of players we had. At the end of the season, we were a close knit dedicated team."

As the leaves turned, so did this up and coming team. Players were stepping up and new opportunities were available to this team.

A few newcomers joined the team to help out the numbers and things were starting to come together nicely.

"Lori Gibbons did a nice job for us this season. She moved from playing number three last year to number one this year. That is a massive jump," Day said. Day spoke of other key players that led to this teams success rather then their predicted demise.

"Senior Helene Casinelli did a great job in the doubles matches. We tried to mix things up a bit and we really had no set lineup."

Sophomore Laura Leslie, who won PAC honors last year, was a vital key in the singles matches.

It was the effort and sacrifices this season that made this team perform as well as they did. Day was pleased with their overall record of seven wins and 12 losses.

By the last week of play, Day realized he was going to have to fill two spots that would be empty next year.

"It is hard to fill seniors shoes. They have the experience and the maturity. They will be greatly missed," Day observed.

Co-captains Casinelli and senior Nicole Klimas were the veterans to the team. Senior Lisa Finegan came on late in the season to help the team out.

"Finegan played some important matches for us. She is a real great kid. I wish she was a freshman," Day said.

"It will be a big change to see Nicole go. She was the driving force of our team. I hate to say she was like a mother, but she was," Shannon said.

As the season closed its doors to a few seniors and good-bye to the underclassmen for the year, Day kept his eyes open for the future.

Recruiting has started and good prospects are popping up. Seniors in high schools from New York to Connecticut have showed an interest in Cabrini tennis.

With assistant Coach Rich by his side Day has great hope for next year's team. Four eyes are always better than two and these two men know what they are doing. They refuse to overlook the great accomplishments that happened during this season despite its hardships.

The team never gave into losing and they were against giving up. There greatest reward came when they upset Immaculata College.

If not for Cabrini's win of 5-4, Immaculata could have taken the first place spot. This win showed that the underdog should never be underestimated.

Day had all compliments for his team. His two first-year students did a "super" job and he had compliments for everyone.

"I'm very proud of what they did. It was a good year."