Both teams stood up, waiting patiently for the ref’s decision. Three and a half hours earlier, the final match of the day began, and it was still not over with the sky getting darker and darker with each shot.

Comprised of Angela Reyzelman (first singles), Kalina Totzeva (second singles), Riya Solanky (third singles), Maddy Flynn and Victoria Loffredo (first doubles), and Melissa Gormus and Lauren Reiser (second doubles), the WHHS varsity girls tennis team has been a consistently dominant force for the past couple of years. Led by their coaches, Todd Green and Bruce Keogh, starting varsity has had an extremely successful run, sweeping the county tournament two years in a row. Last week, the county tournament took place, and again, Wayne Hills did not disappoint.

This 15 team tournament took place on Tuesday, September 26th, with finals being held the next day. Most of the first day was a breeze for the team as all of them had a bye for the first round since they were all seeded first for their individual tournaments. Relaxing, doing homework, and having fun was all they did until the second round, where all of them won their respective matches. The third round also wasn’t a challenge, and at the end of the day, for the second time in a row, everyone from Wayne Hills was in the finals.

The finals took place the very next day after school, and Wayne Hills put on a clinic. For the second time in two years, everyone ended the night with a first place trophy, and it was certainly well deserved. A standout match from that day was Kalina Totzeva’s because it took three and a half hours to complete. The last match of the night, everyone else had already won, so this victory was crucial in order to complete the first place sweep. The realization that this would be a long match dawned on everybody when Kalina won her first set 7-5 after over an hour of battling. The second set went to her opponent 3-6 after another hour of tennis. The third set would be the deciding one, so both players brought their A-game. The match was taking so long that there was a discussion of postponing it to next day because it was getting too dark, but Kalina wouldn’t allow that. Going into overdrive, she ended the night by overcoming her opponent from Pompton Lakes in the third set 6-3.

The experience of winning the tournament was best summed up by Riya Solanky, who said, “It not only was incredible to be successful in winning the tournament, but it made us closer as a team and better players.” This varsity team is definitely a force to be reckoned with, and the Wayne Hills community is certainly proud these of the seven girls representing them.