The Flora Wolfgals Tennis team has finally concluded their 2024 season with some incredible scores. After facing many difficult matches, victory seemed to be on their side the whole time.
The Wolgals were led by some of Flora’s most skilled tennis coaches, Daniel Pipelow, Jerry Stringer, and Chuck Buchanon.
To officially start the season off, the tennis girls say it’s a tradition to have a tennis campout the night before the first practice. This year was a little different because the campout was not held at the tennis courts for many safety reasons, instead, the campout was held in the Powless’s backyard.
During the first few weeks of practice, challenge matches took place. These matches determine everyone’s ranking for the season. For the 2024 Wolfgals tennis season, Jenny Powless held the number one spot strongly with Leah Jones and Elsie Duke not far behind.
They held an astonishing record of 15-2, with notable wins against their biggest rivals. St. Anthony, being the strongest team, was defeated by the Flora Wolfgals 5-4. They also dominated the Onley Tigers 8-1.
Jerry Stringer and Chuck Buchanan offer to surprise the team each year if they defeat the Olney Tigers. The team rolled over the Olney Tigers, leaving Jerry and Chuck no choice but to give them the surprise. This year they agreed to do the ice bucket challenge where each grade level could dump a giant bucket of ice water on their heads.
For the second year in a row, the Flora Wolgals are the reigning champions of the Wolfgal Invitational. The team also placed second in the Paris doubles tournament out of 8 teams and the Mattoon Invitational out of 14 teams.
In addition to their victories, the Wolfgals defeated Mattoon 8-1 and Carbondale 5-4. Throughout the rest of the season, the Wolfgals seemed unstoppable.
For Sectionals Jenny Powless and Elise Duke came in at 2nd place for doubles while Leah Jones came in at 4th place for singles. All three of them became state qualifiers and Leah Jones advanced to play in the top 24 of the entire state.
During the fall season, the head coach Daniel Pipelow hosts a bonfire party at his house for the whole team to enjoy after working so hard to celebrate their wins.
At the end of the season senior night comes when a lot of tears are shed because they are saying goodbye to their senior players. After the Wolgals won their senior night match the whole team celebrated by eating pizza and cookies. After all of the hard work that was put in at practice, it seemed to pay off in the end because it led them to an incredible season full of victories.
