This Thursday, the Spartan girls tennis team had a fierce face off against the Providence Lions at home. The game kept family and friends on the edges of their seat, watching the courts intensely as the game progressed. It was close, and after roughly two hours, the match closed off with the Spartans losing 3-4.

Gallery • 4 Photos

Zimo Xie

RACKET FIVE. Junior Liza Thomas and Senior Lucy Shaffer bump rackets to congratulate each other after scoring a point.

At the start of the game, the three Spartan teams playing doubles all lost the first two sets to Providence. However, the Spartans persisted and won three out of the four singles matches, bringing the score to 3-3.

Captain Audrey Senaratna said, “Providence is a tough match. So I think we came into this match knowing it was going to be hard, but right now, we’re super locked in. Everyone is super focused, and playing their hardest.”

The result of the game fell onto the shoulders of sophomore Nellie Larson, who played the final singles match of the night.

Larson won the first set of her match, but then the second set was tied. In the end, Providence won the final set by a score of 7-6, thus winning the tie-breaker match, and also the entirety of the game.

“It was a really good match, but during the match I was really stressed and also pretty tired. Overall, the match was super fun and a really good experience,” said Larson.

This season, the Providence Lions have also defeated Breck, who are also tough opponents for the SPA Spartans.

Reflecting on the game, assistant coach Jacob Smith said, “They [Providence] close in well, and they hit really hard. And that’s new to some of us, but it’s good for us. I think that we actually become better players even when we lose, more often actually, in my opinion.”

As the season progresses, the Spartans will play another home game next Monday, Sept. 11, against Visitation School at 4:30 p.m.