Team Gold's Sarina DePalma holds off her St. Catherine opponent.
Cougar Sarah Robins prepares to return a shot.
With the sun setting, Cougar Lucy Barnes rallies to win a tiebreaker, 7-2.
Team Gold's Reynolds Hester seals the Cougars’ 5-4 comeback win.

1/4

An Epic Comeback

9/15/2016

Things did not look good for Collegiate’s Junior Varsity Tennis Team Gold against St. Catherine’s on Tuesday evening. Having played tough in earlier doubles and singles matches, the team found itself down 1-4 as the sun quickly began to set.

The Saints needed just one more win to claim victory, but Sarina DePalma and Sarah Robins held them off by winning their respective matches side by side. The score now stood at 3-4.

Next up was Lucy Barnes, who trailed her opponent 1-4.

“Even though I was down and very tired from my doubles match and it started getting dark quickly, I still badly wanted to win,” she said.

With the moon beginning to rise and her teammates cheering her on, Lucy rallied back to win the match in a tiebreaker, 7-2.

“Once I got up 5-2 I knew I would win,” she said. “I was so proud of myself for not giving up.”

With the overall score now tied 4-4, Lucy joined her teammates to support Reynolds Hester in her match, which would decide the outcome. Reynolds fell behind initially, but recovered to deliver a decisive 7-2 tiebreak win to seal the Cougars’ thrilling 5-4 comeback.

“I had some doubt in the beginning,” Reynolds said. “The sun going down definitely did not help. I could not see the ball farther than five feet, but I took a deep breath and, when my teammates came over to support me, I started to see a better outcome. Their cheering really helped me pull through.”

Coach Chris Conquest remarked at the poise of his players and their ability to respond to the pressure with grace, sportsmanship and courage — an important life lesson.

“You learn a lot about yourself by how you respond to those pressure-filled challenges,” he said.

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