As the Cannon Falls tennis season comes to a close, the seven seniors on the team realize the end to their high school tennis experience is approaching. These seven seniors, who have been here for many years, formed bonds with each other as well as with all of the grades below them. Since tennis has lower numbers than some of the other sports offered at Cannon Falls, the varsity and the Junior Varsity teams all get to know each other very well. Through practice every day, and encouraging teammates in matches, they all learned to love each other even though without tennis they may not have gotten to know each other at all.

Tennis however wasn’t just sunshine and daisies for the seniors. Three hour long practices and occasionally traveling an hour and a half away is a major time commitment, so keeping up with homework and other school activities can be difficult. However, amidsts all that time spent at tennis, some of the best bonds were formed between the seniors and the younger girls. Developing brand new friendships are a very important aspect of tennis, and this helped out a new student who joined the tennis program named Laurie Miller, a junior.

When she was asked about how she felt about the seniors leaving, she said, “I don’t know what tennis is going to be like next year after losing seven seniors. It’s almost our whole team. These seniors are what made this season so fun. It will be exciting to see what happens next year, though”.

Through wins and losses the girls’ team bond helped them throughout the season. Placing third under Lake City and Rochester in team sections was both a win and a loss in their minds. Their goal was to place second, which was where they have placed in past years. However, both Coach Paul Norstad and the other players all agreed it was a valiant effort. Along with team sections, individual sections was another vigorous effort for the girls who went.

Molly Rolfes and Mia Holscher played doubles together for individual sections, along with Taylor Jackson and Paige Miest who also played doubles together. Kayla Melhouse and Iris French played singles for individual sections as well, but didn’t make it to finals. Taylor Jackson and Paige Miest made it to the final round for individual sections playing doubles together. Placing fourth was an amazing achievement for both of the girls even though that was where they were expected to place. All of the seniors, Mia Holscher,  Kayla Melhouse, Iris French, Brooke Kimmes, Molly Rolfes, and Averey Dicke came to support Taylor and Paige in the finals, which just shows how supportive their team really is.

When asked about how she will feel leaving Cannon Falls tennis and how she felt about how the year went, Taylor Jackson said, “I feel that leaving the Cannon Falls tennis team is bittersweet. This year was full of of enjoyable memories that I will remember for years to come. Playing with Paige this year was a highlight from this season. We had some tough competition this year, but our goal was to make sure that we were having a good time”.  

These seniors have left a major mark on Cannon Falls tennis by both being good leaders as well as friends. Their presence on the team will be missed, and will also be very noticeable given that they were such a gigantic aspect of the team. As they leave the team in the hands of many younger tennis players, they are a encouraging that the same team bonding continues for the future of Cannon Falls tennis. The end of the seniors’ Cannon Falls tennis comes to a close, but they leave behind a legacy of more than just tennis.