She said the team has seen a lot of improvement since the start of the season. “They make a lot more experienced decisions when they're placing their shots and … they're beginning to read players a little better and create strategies on their own when they're out there.” Krupski not only hopes to win more games next season as the team matures, but perhaps have the team play year-round, too.
Even though senior Katie Siller and her doubles partner Clara Schmidt-Copoff lost their sets (0-6 and 3-6), they still fought hard. The match was full of long rallies, close games and even a few winners from both Siller and Schmidt-Copoff. Siller was disappointed with her performance, which isn't surprising for a player who's come to expect wins — her personal season record stands at 13-2.
It was the last match of her career with the varsity team, which she joined when she was in 7th grade. Siller was glad she has played on a split team , saying, “I have a lot of friends from Southold because of it.” They'll surely miss her, as will the Island, when she heads off to college next year, where she plans to continue playing tennis. “I think I'm going to either walk on at a Division 3 school, possibly try out at a Division 2,” she says.
The only victory for the team that final day came from Lisa Kaasik, a freshman from Shelter Island. With Siller and her Islander freshman teammate Jillian Calabro (who didn't play that day) cheering from the sidelines, Kaasik won her first set 6-3 and lost her second set 4-6, but came out on top in the tiebreaker, 8-6.
The team is made up of 14 girls: ten from Southold, one from Greenport, and three from Shelter Island. “This is the most [Islanders] that we've had in past years,” says Krupski. She welcomes the minor complications inherent in coaching a team made of up of kids from different schools. “For me, it's not so much of a pain because the kids are so dedicated. Kids like Katie Siller are absolutely dedicated … and if they're willing to ride the extra bus to get there and stay late, there's no problems with it.”
Kaasik says being on the split team is fun and a good experience. She doesn't see having to travel to Southold for practice as a negative. “It's an opportunity to make new friends,” she says. Kaasik and Calabro will help keep Shelter Island participation strong once Siller is gone — they say they'll be back next year.