The girls varsity tennis team took third place in the conference championships on Thursday, Oct. 1 at Nicolet High School and Whitefish Bay High School, finishing behind first place finisher Nicolet and second place finisher Cedarburg. The Mighty Highlanders competed against eight other teams, including Cedarburg, Germantown, Grafton, Milwaukee Lutheran, Nicolet, Port Washington and Whitefish Bay.

The team ranked third overall after an intense two days. Anna Kreynin, senior singles player, won her preliminary match, making it to finals, where she won against her opponent from Cedarburg High School. Kreynin’s scores in finals were 2-6, 7-5 and 6-3, winning the second and third sets.

Second place finalists include singles players Katya Mikhailenko, junior, who lost 5-7 in the third set, a tiebreaker between her and her Cedarburg opponent; Helen Watkins, sophomore, who lost both of her sets in finals to Nicolet; and Alyssa Boyer, sophomore, who also lost both of her final sets to Nicolet.

“I played a good three matches, and even through cold weather, I still was able to try my best,” Watkins said.

Each of the Homestead doubles teams took fourth in their preliminary matches, not putting them in a position to move on to finals; only first and second place preliminary winners advanced to the final matches of the conference competition. Doubles one, made up of Lexi Heth, junior, and Madeline Slicker, senior, lost against Whitefish Bay in the third set with a final score of 5-7. Doubles two, consisting of players Emma Wade, senior, and Emily Kowaleski, senior, lost both of their sets to Cedarburg, and doubles three, consisting of players Tricia Engel, junior, and Shannon Burke, senior, lost both of their sets to Whitefish Bay.

“I’m upset by the loss, especially because we beat this team earlier in the season, but I know that we gave our best effort, so that’s all I could ask for,” Engel said. The team came in third just behind Cedarburg, one of Homestead’s biggest rivals in girls varsity tennis. The team dominated Cedarburg last week in a dual match, and their victory gave them high hopes of success against Cedarburg again at conference.

“Going forward into subsectionals and sectionals, I know that we have to be more consistent and aggressive in order to win. I have confidence in our team though, and I know that we can pull it off and do well,” Engel said.

However, at the end of the day, the team was not disappointed with the effort they all individually put in. “We played really confidently and we were very well prepared. The way it all worked out actually put is in a good position going into sectionals,” Heth said.

Sectionals is less than a week a week away on Wednesday, Oct. 7. The team placing in the top three puts the Highlanders in a great position heading into next week’s competition, where they will be playing even more teams from around the state.

It was a very long two days for the team. Each day, Homestead was in the final matches and played under the lights until around 7:30 p.m., and even later. “It was very exhausting, but loads of fun,” Slicker said. It was a cold, long match, but all in all, the team performed great. “It was a great tournament for everyone,” Slicker said.