Towanda returns the tennis courts after missing the 2025 season, and coach Sabrina Taylor couldn't be happier.

"I am ecstatic that we have a team," she said. "I don't care if we lose every game, I'm just thrilled that we have a team, and we're allowed to play. My whole focus, my main focus this year, is to respire interest in the sport, and get the numbers where they had been."

The Knights had been accustomed to 10 to 12 players year to year, but when they only had six sign up a year ago the school said that was too few. This year they have seven - three seniors and four freshmen.

"Now we're begging and pleading to get to seven for a team," Taylor said. "That's our focus this year, have fun, and build the team."

The three seniors are Nadia Alderfer, Dalila Vega, and Natalie Hicks, with Alderfer missing last year while Vega played on the boys' team.

"She's been hitting with Wellsboro and other teams when we didn't have a team last year," Taylor said about Alderfer. "She's excited about the season, and we'll have some help with people to volunteer to hit with her."

Alderfer is excited to be the number one this year, and feels she comes in stronger and with more stamina than when she was a sophomore, and claimed the league title.

"I am excited to see just, with that extra strength, to see how much harder, and more control I can have," she said.

Alderfer knows taking on teams' numbers ones will be a change.

"It'll be a new experience playing the best of the other teams, not the second or third," she said. "It's a new experience, it's a different way of playing against harder, more experienced people. You're playing against senior or juniors that have played three, four years."

Vega looks to move into the number two spot on the team.

"It helped her a lot," Taylor said about Vega playing with the boys last Spring. "It made her a stronger player, a little faster. She picked up her pace a little bit and I think she'll do well this year."

They'll be working get the freshmen up to speed - Johna Miller, Kiera McNeal, Rilyn Bonavita, and Olivia Masters.

"They've never played tennis before, so tennis is a lot of things getting thrown at new kids all at once," said Taylor. "It's nothing that you do on a normal basis, and then. You have another two feet of a racket at the ned of your hand, which throws a lot of kids off. Right now the number one goal for the new kids is to actually hit the ball hit the ball with the racket."

Alderfer plans to be a mentor to the younger kids to help keep the program going.

"It's kind of cool because I started my seventh grade year, so I really got to see those older girls be mentors to me," she said. "Now I'm sort of a mentor to the younger girls. It's just a different experience that I love."

Alderfer has seen Towanda win league titles, and then was part of one in 2024.

"It was really cool seeing the other girls win, and it was really cool that win with a team that only had seven girls," she said. "It was cool to see that even though we had the least amount of players out of all the teams in our region."

That gives her hope that they can be competitive this year in the NTL, but Taylor is just looking for improvement.

"I'd like them to do a project to come video the kids now, and then video them the last day of practice, so they can see the improvement that they've made, and I guarantee you all of hem will be so much better," she said. "When we all started we really stunk, then you just pick it up."

ROSTER

Nadia Alderfer (12)

Dalila Vega (12)

Natalie Hicks (12)

Johna Miller (9)

Kiera McNeal (9)

Rilyn Bonavita (9)

Olivia Masters (9)