Ithaca High doubles team wins sectionals

On Oct. 14, Ithaca High School tennis players Caroline Whelan and Elise Park tore through the Section IV doubles tournament, winning eight of 10 sets played. With the victory, the senior duo has moved on to state qualifiers, which will take place at the end of the week.

This season, Whelan and Park had been playing singles before pairing up for the postseason. Whelan was undefeated playing solo at 9-0, while Park owned a 10-1 record. The transition to playing doubles for their biggest matches of the season was not easy, but they passed the test with flying colors.

“I think for both of us being singles players, it was really different from what we’ve been doing the whole season,” Whelan said. “We were kind of a little nervous to go in. I knew that I was super anxious going into it. But then, as soon as we started playing with each other, we just got into a groove and we were both on. I think we worked really well together.”

This was not the first time Whelan and Park had ever played alongside each other, though. They were doubles partners two seasons ago, making their pairing much easier to adjust to for the tournament in Union-Endicott.

“It brought me back to my roots, honestly,” Whelan said. “I first started playing tennis in 10th grade and I was just immediately paired with Elise by our coach. It brought me back to 10th grade being a player just playing with her, and it was honestly super fun.”

Park echoed that sentiment and added that it was enjoyable to play against new faces in doubles.

“I definitely had a lot of fun playing with Caroline,” Park said. “The experience was so surreal because literally we were playing every single team that we play throughout the season. So, it was honestly really amazing to play with all sorts of people, plus it was different people compared to what we were playing in our regular season as singles players.”

In the finals, Whelan and Park lost the first of three sets against Seton Catholic 6-4. From there, the duo rebounded in tremendous fashion, winning the final two sets 6-1 and 6-0 with their backs against the wall. They discussed coming back from the early deficit.

“I think, definitely, losing the first set was a little bit of a mental toll to both of us,” Park said. “But both of us really were desperate in a way and we really wanted this to work. Both of us had the same goal in mind, so I think that really helped us to pull through, and I really have to thank Caroline for continuously encouraging me and also just making the court basically light up with her passion. It was really fun.”

Whelan added her perspective on how they were able to pull through in the championship match.

“We just were trying to stay positive,” she said. “We both, I think, had our fair share of anxiousness. But I think that we both know that we have each other’s backs. We know that we’re going to put 100% into it no matter what. We’re going to go in with the best mindset possible and whatever happens, happens.”

Whelan and Park have fairly different backgrounds when it comes to tennis. Whelan joined the team in 10th grade after playing volleyball in ninth grade and quickly found success thanks to her athleticism even though she was “horrible,” according to her. Park has been on the varsity roster since eighth grade and worked her way up to a starting singles role in her senior year.

Fortunately, their development as players was not slowed by COVID-19, with tennis being a noncontact sport. While it did shorten their junior seasons, Park discussed how the pandemic just made her pursuit of success on the court even stronger.

“In terms of development, I feel like it just kind of pushed me to find new ways to play tennis,” she said. “Sometimes, the courts would be full in certain areas because of how popular it got. It kind of helped me to continue to be passionate about my sport and also to be creative with it, which was really fun to see.”

Whelan and Park are still taking in their sectional tournament victory but have an even bigger tournament coming up on Friday and Saturday when they enter the state qualifier. With this being their final season, they used the words “mind-blowing” and “surreal” to describe what a trip to states would mean to them.