The girl’s tennis team began their journey through Minnesota, Missouri and South Dakota, on Aug. 29. This was the first road trip for the girls tennis team. The five days were full of not just tennis, but team building as well.

“It was a lot of fun for the girls to get that bonding experience,” said assistant coach Jacob Sullivan.

Sullivan said that the trip was helpful because it can be hard for tennis teams to bond due to it being a more individualized sport. The players had a cooking competition between their rooms using $30 and seeing who could make the best meal. Other bonding highlights included going to The Mall of America, mini-golf and singing.

“Singing with Sullivan in the car was also a lot of fun because he was show choir whenever he was in high school,” said junior Kendall Sweeney.

In addition to the high levels of bonding the girls experienced a high level of competition. While it was the team’s first matches of the year, some of the teams they played had already played four or five matches. The girls played the South Dakota State champions and other high qualifying teams. Sweeney said she appreciated playing more difficult competition because it was more challenging than playing locally.

“Some of the teams we played were tough, but I think despite that we kept fighting and gained a lot of experience from playing those harder teams,” said senior Averi Clement.

Besides the memories that were made, the trip also paved a way for the future of girls tennis trips. Sullivan said that the trip will pose as motivation as only the top 12 girls get to go.

“I just cannot wait for it to be a tradition and for other people to get to experience that kind of team closeness,” said Sweeney.

Five days of playing and bonding not only brought the team closer and challenged them. It helped set a precedent for the future teams and created a goal for the girls to work toward