When facing some long needed renovations, the school was forced to find room for portable classrooms. Unfortunately for the boys and girls tennis teams, the Tam tennis courts were dug up and covered with portables, leaving the teams without a place to play for multiple seasons. Without home courts, the Hawks were motivated to succeed despite unfortunate circumstances. This desire was fulfilled with a perfect season. The Hawks had a historic 2025 season with 20 wins, 0 losses, and a Marin County Athletic League (MCAL) title. “We fought through adversity without having courts to call our own,” coach Wally Tice said. As a result, practice was minimal and sporadic, often with different groups of teammates at different courts. Regardless of this, the team bonded quickly and started out red hot with wins against Marin Catholic, and Tam’s rival Redwood.
In 2024, Tam’s future looked bright with the two top players on the ladder (the team’s player rankings) being freshman, Maya Riisgaard and Siena Moglen. That future got even brighter this year with freshman Chloe Mouret-Lafage and Bianca Botero-Cortes taking the new top two spots on the ladder. “Having engaging captains helped bonding on and off the court. Despite having big changes in the lineup throughout the year, the team was able to stay strong and connected during the season,” Tice said, regarding the team’s dynamic having four underclassmen as the top four on the team. “We took enough breaks, changed the lineup every match, and had lots of team bonding,” junior Ellie McEvilley said.
Despite the perfect record across the season, there was no set lineup. Coach Tice made sure to include players in matches against all teams to ensure practice and experience for all everyone. “We gave lower ladder players matches throughout the season. Every contest didn’t have to be 7-0. If we weren’t winning, we were learning,” coach Tice said. “While Wally sets high expectations for us as a team, he encourages us to give it our all.” senior Grace Rielly said. Players balanced having fun while also being consistent and winning as many matches as possible. “We bonded lots throughout the season, and played as hard as we could.” senior Tessa Harrell said.
Key matches throughout the year were against Redwood, San Marin, and Branson who they beat 6-1 in the MCAL finals Oct. 31. San Marin’s top seed for MCAL singles Devanshi Shrestha gave Tam their toughest match of the season with the final score of Tam four to San Marin’s three on 10/7. By winning the MCAL championship, the Hawks have earned a spot in the NCS Division II Championship starting Nov. 11 where they will face some of the best teams in California. With a roster primarily led by underclassmen, the Hawks will have high expectations for the NCS championship, and seasons to come.