Perhaps no high school sport has a greater disparity in the skill levels between the elite players and the average competitors than tennis. The top players often have been playing since elementary school with the benefit of private coaching and racquet club memberships.

The typical athlete plays recreational and may have picked up the sport in only after having reached high school.

Such is the case for Northampton’s senior co-captains and top two singles players, Lea Fornarotto and Addison Slivka. Both picked up the game as sophomores and have the sometimes daunting task of going into a match knowing it will be a challenge to win a single game.

Fornarotto spoke about her mindset as the number one player, “Sometimes it can feel overwhelming, but I always just try to play my best. I take what their skills are and use it as practice for improvement.”

Slivka, an outfielder on the K-Kids district-title winning softball team, described how she got into tennis, “It was three years ago. Honestly, I wanted to do something else other than softball so I thought I would pick up tennis. It was nice to do something else and being around everyone on the team, I felt included so I thought it was really fun.”

The K-Kids are 2-2 on the young season, with both losses coming to last year’s district champions – Parkland (AAA) and Central Catholic (AA) – by 7-0 scores.

They have beaten PM East (4-2) and Bethlehem Catholic (5-1).

The two captains had key wins to lift Northampton over the Golden Hawks. Fornarotto picked up a 6-1, 7-5 win over Sasha Matthew and Slivka took a 7-6 (11-9), 6-1 match against Caroline Dunn. Dahlia Janis and Keely Holland won their match at second doubles 6-2, 6-4. The Kids also got two forfeit wins.

The match against the Cardinals swung on two tight matches. Evelyn Ziegler beat Mariam Thomas 6-4, 7-5 to claim the point at third singles and Holland and Janis came through with a 6-4, 6-4 win vs. Ava Watson and Erin Tuohy.

Olivia Warren and Evelyn Lack took a 6-0, 6-1 match at third doubles and the K-Kids also received a forfeit win at fourth doubles.

Head coach Gabby Demchak summed up the season so far, “It’s early and we’ve had to deal with a lot of rain in addition to some of the heavy hitters early in the season, but I’m liking how we’re progressing overall. Lea and Addie are definitely two of my stronger players, but my double 2 team is also really strong. Dalia and Keely have some good chemistry going. We’re just trying to get better every match.”