By Nicki Frey ‘25
The Lancaster-Lebanon League girls tennis championships were played at our very own tennis courts at CVHS this past Thursday, Saturday, and Monday. Six of CV’s most talented girls competed to place top in the league.
Jade Flores (11), Paula Valverde (11), Natalie Hopta (12), Aleksandra Saran (12), Ariana Baez-Colon (12), and Arsema Siyoum (12) participated in the play-offs. Each played an amazing game with their own unique spin.
After Thursday’s matchups, Valverde expressed, “I think I’ve been doing really well. I just think the mental part of tennis is just really difficult.” On Thursday, Valverde won both of her matches, advancing far enough to play again on Saturday. Although she did not secure a win on Saturday, Valverde still played on Monday to place sixth in AAA singles.
Flores also played AAA singles, and played all three days. She won against both Lampeter Strasburg and Ephrata to advance to the semi-finals, where she lost to Manheim Township. On Monday she played for the final spot on the podium, although she ended up securing fourth. After playing on Thursday, Flores sounded confident about competing in the semi-finals, “I’m ready. I’m ready to go out there and give it my all.”
Seniors Hopta and Saran paired up as doubles partners in flight two. Together they won the first round and moved on to compete on Saturday. Saran shared her feelings about continued play: “I’m excited because I feel like there’s not a lot of pressure playing with Natalie.” Even though the duo played an amazing game on Saturday, they couldn’t clinch the win against Manheim Township to advance to the semi-finals.
Both girls also played singles, Hopta in flight two and Saran in flight three. Saran unfortunately lost in the first round, so her singles game ended there. Hopta won her first and second rounds, qualifying her to play on Saturday for the semi-finals. In her semi-final match, she advanced past Ephrata and was on her way to winning the bracket. Continuing her singles matches on Monday, Hopta was bested by Hempfield. Although she did not win that final match, Hopta placed second in the flight.
Even though the tennis season has concluded for most of the team, Jade Flores and Paula Valverde are competing in districts next week.
Congratulations, girls! Well played!