Spectators, teammates, coaches and family members rallied together to celebrate Marauder tennis’ seniors as well as watch the Maclay varsity girls and boys tennis teams compete against JPII. The match was held at home on Thursday, April 6, and commenced at 3:30 p.m. Thursday was a complete sweep for the Marauders, as the Maclay varsity girls and boys tennis teams won all of their matches against the Panthers.
Senior Emily Macri and Oakley Deison were under the spotlight, each celebrating their seventh and final season of Marauder tennis. Before the matches started, the Maclay girls and boys tennis teams lined up on the side of the court, and each member of the team held up a giant cutout of Macri and Dieson. As the two seniors walked with their families to join the rest of the team, head coach Mary Phillip Smith shared short bios about each senior.
“We are excited to honor Emily and Oakley tonight as seniors for Maclay tennis,” Smith said. “They have both been a part of the Maclay tennis program for seven years now, and they have been playing since sixth grade on different teams. I’m excited to be able to honor them and all that they have meant to Maclay tennis over the years. They are both captains this year and great leaders for our team and have been huge assets to Maclay tennis their whole careers.”
Junior Lainey Ford has also enjoyed being surrounded by Macri’s and Deison’s kindness throughout the years. She describes them as always holding the team and themselves accountable and explains that she has had loads of fun playing with the seniors this season.
“Emily is a super good teammate,” Ford said. “She always keeps us on track and keeps us focused during practice. She’s very driven and encourages us all to do better every day. Oakley is super encouraging. He is always the one that’s the loudest and cheering everybody on. He keeps the mood light.”
After the senior celebration, the matches began with doubles. Macri played the only doubles match on the girl’s side with her partner sophomore Megan Vegas. Doubles partners have to win eight games and win by two to take victory in a doubles match. Macri and Vegas did just that, as their match resulted in an 8-1 victory. Additionally, the boy’s team went 3-0 in their doubles matches.
“[Today] was probably the most fun doubles match we have played all year,” Macri said. “I just let loose and knew it was senior night, so I just wanted to go for it. Everything went well, and not much went wrong today. My serve [was the best aspect of my game], and I need to improve my backhand for next time.”
Next up were the singles matches. The Marauders went 3-0 on the girls side, and on the boys side, Maclay went 5-0.
“Singles is a different game,” Smith said. “We talk about starting out and making a lot of balls, and we work on getting more aggressive as the match goes on.”
Macri explains that she looks forward to Districts, Regionals, and State. Next up for the Maclay varsity boys and girls tennis teams will be the District Tournament all day on April 11-12. The tournament will take place at Maclay.
