Our girl’s tennis team is the most dominant the city has ever seen, going on a historic run of winning city championships, with 10 in the past 12 years. In that time, the team sent more than 20 girls downstate and won the state title once as the first public school to do so. This is why it came as a shocker when the team fell in a tiebreaker situation to Walter Payton College Prep. With both schools tied at 17 points in the competition for city, Payton was deemed the winner using the result of a past doubles match between Payton’s Maya Jha and Corina Vinarov and Young’s Aria Fifer and Celena Ho.

You would assume a loss in the city championships would leave a team of this pedigree destroyed and doubting themselves. Yet, it’s quite the opposite, with Captain Esohe Osaghae saying, “Yes, unfortunately, we tied with Payton, and they won because of a tiebreaker rule… However, I know that doesn’t mean we played badly; it just means that Payton was better than us on that day.” Their record against Payton in major competitions in past years supports this. With their only loss being the 2018 competition for the city championship. But, instead of dwelling on their loss, they look to next year with a team member stating, “They have the skills and are capable of being city champions next year, as well as qualifying for state again! They just have to apply themselves, and I know they can do it.” And with bright spots like Bella Mendez, who has been running the city and region for three years, capping it off with an individual city win this past season, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that they bounce back next season.