The girls tennis team went 1-2 this weekend at the Lyon’s Invitational in Lyons, Ill.

The invitational included Hinsdale Central, Neuqua Valley and Lyon’s Township. Edwardsville beat Lyon’s township in doubles 8-6, but fell short to Hinsdale Central in doubles at 5-8. Neuqua Valley also beat EHS in doubles at 7-9.

These losses followed only days after the Tigers lost their decade long Southwestern Conference winning streak to Belleville East.

East won all six singles flights of the match and one of the three doubles matches of the flight, dropping EHS to 12-6 overall and 3-1 in the conference.

“This past week has shown us what we have to work on in doubles especially to be able to compete with schools like Belleville” senior Kasey Schroeder said. “Especially when conference finals come around in the next few weeks.”

But the tough loss didn’t lower the team morale going into matches this weekend. In fact, for some players it heightened the competition.

“Losing to Belleville made me motivated to play with everything I have,” senior Annie McGinnis said.

For junior Hayley Earhart, the last week reminded her about the team goals and how they must motivate each other.

“I think that we believe as a team that if we work the hardest that we can achieve the most,” Earnhart said. “We understand that the teams we played this weekend are some of the best in the state but if we work harder than them, we can win. In tennis it’s all about your mental game and how hard you work.”

And although the Tigers ended with some hard losses McGinnis thought the weekend highlighted both good and bad playing moments.

“Individually, I played well. Friday was a really good day for me. I won both my matches against a skilled and competitive team,” said McGinnis. “I was hitting very well and was motivated and confident throughout both matches. Saturday I also played well but lost both matches. The girls I played were very skilled and I couldn’t quite stay in the points long enough to end them.”

Despite the playing mistakes throughout the weekend and eventually the losses, the Tigers enjoyed the opportunity to travel together.

“It was a great experience being able to travel up to Chicago as a team” said Schroeder. “Even though we didn’t play the way we would have liked, it was still so great to be able to play.”

The losses over the weekend served as a learning experience for the tigers. They realized what they can improve on and how they will continue with other tough competition. Earnhart felt that she made some of the same mistakes as her teammate McGinnis and hopes to fix these errors in future matches.

“One of the things we could work on is just getting the next ball back, taking our time and waiting for the opponent to make a mistake rather than us,” Earnhart said.

At the end of the weekend the team dealt with some tough losses but they remained a strong team in skill and bond.

“We had a lot of energy the whole weekend,” McGinnis said. “I’m proud of every single girl on the team!”