KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Barstow School girls tennis team made school history at the Missouri Class 2 championships, winning the singles, doubles and team titles, wrapping up a triple crown.
"We didn't play last year because of COVID-19, so they didn't get a season and what we have is a junior, a couple sophomores and a freshman, and they just put it together. They worked hard," Tom O'Brien, head tennis coach, said.
Down one season due to COVID-19, the girls tennis team was making up for lost time at the state championship.
"I'm so proud and it really just showed me that hard work pays off, and I've never gotten to be part of a team before because you know, usually tennis is very individualistic, so it's kind of like or losses were softened and our victories sweetened because we did them together," Phoebe Martin, doubles winner, said.
Sarena Biria is the singles Missouri Class 2 champion and went undefeated all season long.
"It was definitely strange, I wasn't expecting to have that record when the season finished, but I wasn't really worried that much about my wins and losses," Biria said.
Every athlete wants to get the win, especially at state. They want to do so for their team, themselves and for their school.
In the doubles Missouri Class 2 championship, no matter what, Barstow was going to come out on top.
"It was weird, kind of, but it was also kind of fun to play each other because we play each other everyday in practice, so it wasn't that bad," Atra Biria, doubles winner, said.
The two Barstow doubles teams faced each other for the title, but there weren't any hugs or high-fives until after the match.
A week later in Springfield, Missouri, Barstow went 5-0 to win the team finals, rounding up the first triple crown in school history.