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Kenwood
Girls
Win Regional Tennis Title
- by Ben Boehl -
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Kenwood
seniors Chelsea Leap and Samantha Lui won the Regional Championship for
girl’s doubles.
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Chelsea Leap and Samantha Lui are regional tennis
champions. The two
Kenwood seniors were crowned Regional Champions for girl’s doubles at
CCBC-Essex on May 20.
They are coached by Fletcher Burchett, who believes Leap and Lui are
the first tennis champions at Kenwood.
“This is the first region championship I think we have won in the
history of the school,” Burchett said, who is still doing the research.
In a sport like tennis, a player must remain calm and not get upset
over every play. Burchett said that’s why Leap and Lui are regional
champions. Both have on-the-court determination and many times they
have come back to win in the third set.
“They both are incredibly calm and collective on the court,” Burchett
said. “They are resilient and don’t make a lot of errors. They force
their opponents to make the errors.”
“We are both pretty quiet. We don’t get too excited or emotional when
things go bad and we don’t get carried away when we win too. We keep
each other in check,” Lui explained.
“We understand each other. We don’t get mad at each other,” Leap added.
Leap and Lui primarily played singles tennis so it took time for the
girls to adjust to the doubles game and they were heavy underdogs going
into the regional tournament at CCBC-Essex.
Their first game was against Dulaney, who was the top
seed in the
tournament, but the Kenwood team found a way to win. The girls went on
to beat Towson for the regional title.
“We had a tough draw, especially playing Dulaney,” Lui said. “We knew
it’d be hard.”
Leap said no one gave Kenwood a chance because they were considered as
two singles players playing against teams used to doubles competition.
It was a sweet victory for the Kenwood duo.
“It was amazing,” Leap explained. “We were so much in the game and when
we won, we felt like that hardwork finally paid off.”
What makes this Kenwood’s team championship so special is the girls
aren’t obsessive with the sport. It’s just for fun. They don’t live,
sleep and breathe tennis. While many tennis players train year-round
and
have played since they could walk, Leap and Lui didn’t start playing
tennis formally until their freshman year at Kenwood and only play in
the spring. They take the fall off to play badminton.
“It always takes a couple of weeks to get back into tennis. At first, I
get frustrated because it takes so long to get back into a rhythm,”
Leap said.
Leap and Lui’s career ended at the University of Maryland-College Park
where they lost in the first round of the State Championship last
weekend.
The tennis duo isn’t just successful on the court, but off the court.
Both finished in the top three percent in the Kenwood senior class and
Lui was selected as Kenwood Class 2010 Valedictorian.
“Both Chelsea and Samantha are outstanding students and they are
involved in the school,” Burchett added.
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