You drive past the courts every day, but how much is really known about the North Allegheny tennis team?

The girls’ team just started its fall season – beginning training before the summer break had ended – and has already had major success.

The kickoff to the season was rough, however, with two losses to start the 2025 schedule. But the girls made a terrific comeback and slowly worked their way back up. With now five consecutive victories, including three sweeps, the team has gotten back into the tennis swing of things.

Consisting of 13 girls on JV and 11 on Varsity, the girls’ team competes almost every day during the school week and practices frequently on non-match days. To keep everything running smoothly, the four captains — Ella Mangene (senior), Audrey Zheng (senior), Cynthia Li (senior), and Mia Kaufman (sophomore) — make sure that all players are on the same page when it comes to away matches, organization, and any personal needs.

Varsity’s main captain, Mangene is spending her last season taking care of most of the team’s needs while going undefeated playing line two doubles.

“I mostly handle the media. Last year, I did some PGH trip review articles and got to talk to reporters and give them insight,” she said. “I also pick out our uniforms and run warm-ups.”

Being captain means a lot to Mangene.

“Making sure people are seen and heard, I always try to talk to everyone before the match. I love the leadership, and I think it’s fun,” she said. 

While having a total of 24 girls on a team seems like a lot, tennis players can be junior varsity, varsity, or both, depending on their skill set. Nonetheless, the varsity team in particular has had no issue welcoming standout freshmen players.

“Varsity feels like a closer group than JV does because there’s less people and we spend more time competing together and traveling together,” said junior Anika Reddy, who has just made the varsity team playing doubles on exhibition. “I would say the biggest difference is the competition level, since varsity works their way towards WPIALs, whereas JV’s goal is to focus on developing their game to hopefully compete on varsity in the future.” 

With that in mind, many underclassmen look forward to competing in the WPIAL or PIAA championships as seniors, or even as juniors. 

“One of my favorite memories from these past four years is going to Hershey for States,” stated senior Audrey Zheng, who plays line one doubles on varsity. “I’ve learned from it that tennis is definitely not an individual sport like a lot of people think. We give each other so much support, whether it’s cheering or playing with your doubles partner.”

Tennis is wrongly described as “the quiet sport.” Actually, it is aggressive, pensive, euphoric, and rewarding all in one. The game itself has created a bond among the team members that will not be easily forgotten when the season comes to an end. That is why the courts have become like a second home to the team here at NASH.