The Lady Lobsters Look To Close Out The Season With A Smash

As their season comes to a close, the Lady Lobsters, Stuyvesant girls’ tennis team, will attempt to finish strong after a couple of rocky games.

The Lady Lobsters’ season started with two shutout wins, winning 5-0 against both Eleanor Roosevelt High School and Hunter College High School. A full team effort allowed Stuyvesant to dominate its opponents, as each player pulled her weight and dismantled her opponents in the process.

As the season progressed, the team’s performance continued to improve. The Lady Lobsters won two of their next three games, 5-0 against the High School of American Studies and 4-1 against Eleanor Roosevelt, with its lone loss against Bronx Science, 4-1. This run was led by sophomore Alyssa Pustilnik, who has won 42 of the 50 total games she has played for the season, senior and captain Marie Ivantechenko, who had gone 27-12, and freshman Palak Srivastava, who went 40-18 in her doubles matches.

In their past three games, the Lady Lobsters have gone 1-2, with two 5-0 losses. In their first match against Beacon High School, none of the girls were able to win more than four games, but the Lady Lobsters were able to recover with another 5-0 win against Hunter College High School. Their latest game, an unfortunate 3-2 loss against Bronx Science, stopped any momentum that they were trying to gain to make a final run before the playoffs.

With only two games left in their season, the Lady Lobsters are looking forward to the playoffs. The Lobsters lost to Hunter College High School in the second round of the playoffs last season in a close 3-2 defeat, and this year, the Lady Lobsters are looking for revenge.

“We have a really strong lineup this year,” Ivantechenko said. “Hopefully, we’re going to get further in [the] playoffs than we have in recent years.”

With strong leaders and standout players, the Lady Lobsters are a well rounded team. However, their fate may be decided by their final two regular season games. Two losses would not be good going into the playoffs, as they would be 1-4 in their last five games. On the other hand, two wins would set them up with great momentum, as they would be enter the playoffs on a winning streak. Either way, the girls on the team will have to step up if they want to become PSAL champions.