AMSA girl tennis will bring the whole team back in 2021 – Sport – MetroWest Daily News, Framingham, MA

Unlike many teams across Massachusetts, the Eagles don’t have a single senior on this year’s team and will return the full roster for 2021. As a result, no player misses their last season.

The girls team at the Advanced Math and Science Academy (AMSA) is really lucky.

Unlike many teams across Massachusetts, the Eagles don’t have a single senior on this year’s team and will return the full roster for 2021. As a result, no player misses their last season.

“I don’t know how many coaches got lucky where (they didn’t have that difficult conversation),” said AMSA coach David Gordon. “It is a difficult conversation. As a coach, you need to go to the player and tell them that their senior season will not take place.

“It’s a heartbreaking conversation to have someone, and I happened to have succeeded in not having to.”

And for the five returning juniors to become seniors next year, they are lucky not to miss their senior season.

“I’m very lucky,” said the captain and emerging Kirstin Hailey. “I feel really bad for all the seniors this year who have missed their senior year, because the senior year is definitely one of the best years where everything is going on.”

In a way, Gordon almost feels guilty.

“We were so stupid that we didn’t have seniors this year,” said Gordon. “I feel for all the coaches who had to tell their seniors and for all the players who lost their senior year in all sports.”

That’s not to say Gordon and his players were not disappointed that they missed a season hoping to gain another title in the Central Mass. Lee, 4-1, last season in the state semi-finals.

The Marlborough Charter School girls’ team hoped to take that next step this season and advance to the state finals.

“I was so upset,” said junior Elena Cardoso about her response to the cancellation of the season because of the coronavirus pandemic. “I was really looking forward (to the season), especially after taking a big win with the team last year … I was looking forward to becoming a big part of the team and bringing the team closer together deliver.”

Like many, the announcement of the season’s cancellation wasn’t such a surprise, but it still made it no less disappointing.

“I wasn’t surprised, but I felt sorry for the kids,” said Gordon. “The response was a bummer, but we kind of expected it.”

“I was very disappointed,” said Junior Anvi Gampa. “It was pretty sad because it was an important year for us. We had that victory (in the Central Mass. Finals) last year and we were ready to play. We recruited new team members and everything seemed like it was going in a positive direction and then it all ended.

“But I think it was best because of the situation. Everyone’s safety is a top priority. “

While missing a season is disappointing, the team looks at the positives as they prepare to get started next season.

“I was really upset and I was absolutely looking forward to this year,” said Hailey, the Eagles’ No. 1. “I felt we could have performed really well this year. We definitely had a very strong team.

“I was absolutely looking forward to it and was quite upset, but with everything going on in the world, this isn’t the worst thing that could have happened.”

The girls also believe that without any seniors on the team missing their last season this year, the sting of losing a season doesn’t hurt that much.

“It wasn’t as bad as it (would have been) if we had seniors,” said junior Zinara Dubash. “If we had seniors on the team it would certainly have been more difficult.”

“Since there were no seniors on our team, no one misses a senior night or a special sports award,” said Gampa.

Now that 2020 is in the rear view, AMSA can look forward to 2021.

“I wish the season had happened, but I think if we practice this summer, I think our senior year could be the best of all our years,” Gampa concluded.

Ethan Winter is a senior multimedia sports journalist at Daily News. He can be reached at 508-626-3987 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @EWints.