Photo courtesy of Alexa Chan

The Scotch Plains Fanwood High School Girls Tennis team hopes to dominate on the courts this year with a young and talented group of players.
“I think we have a really good chance for a winning record and even winning our division within the conference,” head Coach Luke Piede said.
The team began training during the summer, working hard on sharpening their skills in both doubles and singles matches. They hope to improve upon their 3-16 record from last season.
The team’s roster is packed with experienced tennis players: Freshman Anna Szczuka is nationally ranked with the United States Tennis Association, while returning junior captain Alexa Chan placed fifth last year in second singles. Rounding out the roster, Union Catholic transfer junior Maggie Lapolla will play third singles and senior Alexa Melnitski and sophomore Annabelle Griffin will be playing first doubles, along with other talented teammates.
“ I think everyone is really positive,” Piede said. “We had more players come out this year. We have 26 people on the roster between JV and varsity, so it feels like there’s a lot of enthusiasm right now.”
The team will face an uphill battle this season, matching up against several tough teams in their county, specifically New Providence and Governor Livingston, who they will play on September 14 and October 2 respectively at the LaGrande Avenue tennis courts.
The team recently won their match against Union Catholic 5-1, who was a tough competitor for the team last year. They are currently 2-1 and look forward to working hard and winning more matches this season.