Few teams can claim to have had as successful of a season as WA’s Girls’ Varsity Tennis team had in 2025. After achieving the much-coveted title of Dual County League (DCL) champions, the team managed to fight their way to the state quarterfinals, where they eventually lost to Lexington High School. Their overall run last year put them amongst the top eight teams in Massachusetts. Despite losing the team’s number one player and only senior at the end of the 2025 season, Girls’ Tennis is optimistic that they will achieve similar, if not greater, successes in the upcoming 2026 season.
WA is currently the third seed, which means they are ranked third overall as a Division I high school varsity girls’ tennis team in Massachusetts—a rank they carry from the previous season. With this level of dominance on the court, being halted at the quarterfinals has been a source of frustration for the team for the past few years; so, advancing past this point is a goal for many.
“We had such a great success last year,” head coach Tracy Capone said. “[The goal is to] put our best team out there and our best foot forward. We’re still [on] the hunt for either [the] DCL title or a good run in the tourney.”
However, according to multiple prior players, the team faced a great loss when former senior captain and number one singles player Emily Wang graduated. Not only are players feeling her absence with the lack of her support and guidance, according to junior and varsity player Melanie Chang, the team is also forced to up their game to make up for her skill and expertise.
“I really miss Emily, I was pretty close to her and we would practice all the time,” Chang said. “I still keep in touch with her. I actually have a text from her saying she believes in us this year, so I hope we can make her proud.”
Fellow junior and varsity member Sohana Arani shared a similar sentiment, a testament to Wang’s lasting impact on the team.
“I feel like a piece of us is gone. You can’t really replace that,” Arani said. “But I think with the addition of new freshmen [and] new sophomores, our team can really grow this year.”
Wang’s former teammates are not the only ones who can attest to her value to the team and the impact of her absence: Capone agreed with her players, but maintained an optimistic viewpoint for the upcoming season as well.
“We lost obviously our number one, which is a big hit,” Capone said. “Those will be tough shoes to fill, but we do have people ready and willing to step up and make an impact on the court.”
Despite the blow to the team, this year’s captains, seniors Haasini Sriraman and Shreya Goyal, have high hopes for the next few months. Using the experience they have gained from previous years on the team, the two have noted what they would and would not like to repeat during this season.
“One thing we did really well [last year] was learning from each other and seeing how we could repeat that in our own matches. We never took criticism to the heart, we always challenged ourselves,” Sriraman said. “Emily was a really great inspiration—actually, everyone was. Sohana and Emma did a great job with doubles, they showed us what good communication and teamwork should look like. Melanie, Nina, Emily, they all showed us what good determination looked like.”
Sriraman went on to comment on each member of last year’s varsity team, noting that each individual contributed to the improvement of the team as a whole and the valuable lessons learned from one another that they have taken into consideration during matches. Similarly, Goyal also highlighted the importance of prioritizing community building and teamwork.
“My biggest goal is definitely to have a very cohesive team and that we are able to put forth our best effort and skill-set for each match during the season and during the tournament as well,” Goyal said.
However, both captains also mentioned that there was a specific habit that they would not like to continue into the 2026 season.
“[There was] a lot of negative self talk [last season]. Even though no one’s outwardly saying it, you can see it on someone’s face when they missed a ball and come off a game, they’re like ‘Ugh, that was so bad.’ It’s normal for that to happen, but sometimes it gets into people’s heads and fosters a negative environment,” Sriraman said.
Girls’ Tennis will continue tryouts throughout this week before ending Thursday, March 19. The final varsity lineup will be announced Thursday afternoon.
The team’s first match of the season will be at home at Colonel John Robinson School next Friday, March 27 at 3:45 p.m. against Chelmsford High School.