From October 23-25, senior Graysen Pendry represented Parker at the IHSA Girls Tennis State Finals for the first time since 2023.
Pendry started playing tennis when she was 5 years old. At that age, she had recently suffered a concussion and needed to retrain her hand-eye coordination in an active and low contact manner. After a second concussion when she was 9, Pendry picked tennis up again, but it wasn’t until she was 12 that she began to play consistently.
At the beginning of high school, Pendry was stuck between the decision of playing volleyball or tennis for Parker. “Being a very competitive person…an opportunity that I saw with tennis was… my team could lose, but I could still win and be able to put my best effort forward,” Pendry said, and she joined the Parker tennis team as a singles player. Pendry “took that, especially in high school, and ran with it.”
This year, Pendry played singles one while also upholding her role as a captain and teammate. “Singles is just you on the court, which is what’s so great about it, and also so scary,” Pendry said. “But, I think it’s really fun because I get to be mentally locked in and play the best tennis I can at singles…I also get to be captain which is a way that I can interact with the whole team.”
“Graysen’s been the captain for the past two years…she makes everything more inclusive, especially team bonding, and makes practice more fun and enjoyable for everyone,” junior Bess Auerbach said. “She is always so good at uplifting the team…Graysen has truly made such an impact on the tennis team, and it will not be the same without her.”
As a result of her position as singles one, Pendry was automatically seeded for the sectional conference. Pendry has been unseeded for the past three years. However, this year, she was seeded sixth.
“She has worked very hard in the past four years to make it to not only number one singles but also to make it to the state, which is a very big deal,” Auerbach said.
“This is actually my first year being seeded, because I’ve tried three other times, and unfortunately come up against the number one or the number two seed every single time before in my first or second match.”
At sectionals, Pendry won her first match 6-1, 6-0, and then competed in a second “incredibly intense” match against the Latin singles two player. This was also the qualifying match for state, which Pendry ended up winning 6-0, 6-3.
“I’m really proud of the way that I was able to deal with it mentally because I think it was just stressful,” Pendry said. “There was a moment where it was 3-0 and then suddenly it was 3-3, but I was able to lock back in, and that was really great.”
By winning the qualifying match and reaching the semi-finals at sectionals, Pendry qualified for state, a feat she had not achieved in past years. Pendry finished fourth overall in the sectional tournament, doing better than her sixth seed ranking.
“She’s pretty much been our best player for the last three years, not just as a senior…That sort of culminated this year,…I think she played the best she’s ever played, two matches in a row at sectionals, which allowed her to qualify for state,” Varsity Head Coach Jim Taylor said. “It’s the culmination of a great career.”
To prepare for State, Pendry practiced hitting with her coaches and senior captain and singles two player, Lula Notz. As for the mental aspect of preparation, Pendry focused on “positive self-talk, which is really key for the mental aspect of tennis, which is what I sometimes struggle with,” Pendry said.
While Pendry was nervous for her first match, she highlighted that once she “got into it and was able to hit [her] strokes and to kind of try out different tactics, it was really exciting.”
“State was so exciting because going for the first time… and as a senior knowing that it will be your first and last time there, is really cool,” Pendry said. “There was just so much energy because you’re with the best players in the state, and it’s so fun.”
After playing a few matches and eventually falling to the first seed from Hinsdale South who finished first in the tournament, Pendry finished 41st in the state.
Pendry is not planning to pursue tennis in college, however she hopes that wherever she goes, she has the option to play club tennis. As for the rest of their senior year, she and Notz will continue to play through USTA doubles tournaments. As she wonders what her tennis future holds,, Pendry reflects on her appreciation for the game.
“Tennis is such a beautiful sport in the movements and it’s so active,” Pendry said. “It requires so much mental fortitude and it’s very fun. There’s just something kind of mesmerizing about it.”
