The Antioch Girls Tennis team went home happy Saturday afternoon after placing first at the Cary-Grove invitational. The girls won two matches prior to the Saturday invite, winning a close match at home against Wauconda on Thursday 4-3. The team continued to improve their play as they also shut out Waukegan at home 6-0 on Friday night.

Antioch’s Kelsey Neville had a stand out performance winning all three of her matches on Saturday. Neville won her first match 6-1, 6-0, her second match 6-1, 6-2 and her third match 6-0, 6-0. She took first overall at the invite.

Senior Madison Oakes is a member of the Antioch Girl’s Tennis team.

“Our team as a whole, has a very strong mental game when we go out on the court, and that’s more than half of the game: mentality,” Oakes said. “We also communicate very well when we are playing doubles.”

Like all teams, the girls have both their weaknesses and their strengths.

“Our strengths are communication and mentality,” Oakes said. “I’d have to say our weaknesses are the fact that we sometimes underestimate some of the teams we play because of how they have performed in the past matches.”

With a team of returning state qualifiers like Emma Dejong, Kelsey Neville and Sjana Henderson, as well as a full group of young talent, the future looks bright for this Antioch team.

Oakes hopes for a successful season for the Sequoit Tennis team, “With the matches we have played so far, I think our season will go very well. If we keep up what we’re doing, hopefully we will make it to the end by sending more people to state than last year.”