By Andy Hutchison

Staples girls tennis, coming off a strong finish in the State Tournament, is again looking to have success down the stretch this spring.

“We had a great run last year, finishing second in the state, and I’m hoping to have a very strong season again this year. Our strength this year will definitely be our depth. We won’t have to rely on one or two heavy hitters — we have talent from the top of the ladder to the bottom. And we already have a great team dynamic, I’m looking forward to a great season,” Coach Jennifer Wider said.

“We had a very competitive tryout for girls tennis this year with over 50 girls. There was an abundance of young, talented players vying for spots on the varsity team,” the coach added.

Captains are Isa Alfageme, Rachel Guzman and Devyn Peffer, all of whom will be in the doubles mix.

Other key players include Olivia Lazar, Amelia Berkowitz and freshman Adrianna Gavriloiu, who will  make up the top of the singles lineup. Katarina Siegner will also be playing singles. Dylan Lehrer and freshman Emmy Steinberg will be playing doubles as will Aanya Gandhi and Azita Vazhayil.

Rounding out the singles lineup are Hunter Rossetter and Abby Bandini. And on the doubles side the lineup includes Raleigh Sipkin and Kayla Stanley.

The team’s biggest rivals in the FCIAC are New Canaan, Darien, defending champion Greenwich and last year’s runners-up Fairfield Ludlowe.

Staples jumps into tough competition from the start as New Canaan visits Monday, April 6 at 4 p.m.

Andy Hutchison

^{_{Andy Hutchison has been covering school sports — including Staples athletics — as well as news and feature stories, since the 1990s. He is the sports editor at the Newtown Bee. He writes for the Monroe Sun. He was director of communications and radio color commentator for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (now Islanders) hockey team. He has won numerous writing awards, including regional and national first-place honors.}}