Radnor High's girls varsity tennis team beat Marple Newtown 5-0 on Thursday, Sept. 10, claiming its second consecutive shutout to open the Central Athletic League (CAL) season.
The Raptors won all five matches at home on the courts at 130 King of Prussia Road.
The result followed a 5-0 blanking of Springfield on Tuesday, Sept. 8, in the season opener. Through two CAL contests, Radnor has not dropped a single match.
Third-year head coach Kim Kent's roster features senior Luci L'Oiseau, juniors Siena Gurk and Emma Jean, sophomore Emily Takefman and Ridley Longsworth, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer feature on the program published in late August. The Inquirer profiled the Raptors after several players attended the Philly Open professional tournament over the summer, an experience Kent used to reinforce the program's competitive culture.
"Who you are on the court is who you are in life," Kent told the Inquirer on Aug. 27, describing her coaching philosophy ahead of the season. She expanded on that theme in the same interview, saying good sportsmanship and making the right calls on the court reflect a player's character and reputation.
Gurk, now a junior, told the Inquirer that watching professional players reset mentally after falling behind in matches left an impression on the team. "There would be games that we would watch, especially the first singles match where a player would be down like a couple games and a couple points, and after every point they really just reset and got back on the court and come back with the same amount of energy every single time," Gurk said in the Aug. 27 feature. "That was really inspiring."
That mental toughness appears to be translating to the court. Two matches into the CAL season, the Raptors have yet to concede a point on the team scoreboard.
The next confirmed date on Radnor's schedule is the CAL Girls' Singles Tournament, set for Sept. 25-26 at Radnor High School.
