Palisade and Central’s girls tennis team reigns over rival

On March 7th, Palisade High School and Central High School’s combined girls tennis team, the WarDogs, had their first match of the season. The WarDog’s hard work and dedication paid off.

In their match against Fruita High School, the WarDogs took the win with a score of 4-3. This is a huge accomplishment for the WarDogs considering the fact that they beat their rival team for the first time in over 5 years. Central’s Alexis Wickham won the number 1 singles match with a hard fight, along with Palisade’s Sydney Mauer who won her number 2 singles match. For the doubles teams, number 1 doubles took the win as well as the number 3 doubles. With the effort and hard work put into the first match of the season, the WarDogs proudly took an overall win with a score of 4-3. Palisade student and number 1 doubles player, Joey Smith, says, “I think that overall the team did amazing. I feel like we really pulled through against a tough team and we really showed confidence.” The team has been working on confident mindsets in order to have the correct mentality. Joey says, “Tennis is such a mental sport in general. About 90% of tennis is mental while the other 10% is physical. A quote Venus Williams says, ‘You win or lose the match before you even go out there.’ The girls on the team definitely had this mentality throughout their matches.” This is a great start to the beginning of a hopeful season. The team plays in the Western Slope Open this weekend. Good luck to the team as they continue their season!