The 2015 Pascack Valley Girls’ Tennis season will be a season of many “firsts.” This season will be Tom Gallione’s first season as the head coach of the team. He has inherited a group who has great potential and a large senior class with lots of varsity experience. Senior captains Brianna Ruback, Noelle Garbaccio, and Grace Cho expect the team to excel on the court but also want the team to become more of a “family.” Garbaccio stated, “As captains, we want to make the team closer by holding more pasta parties before our matches and more relationship building activities.”

Besides eating pasta, the girls have also played some great tennis. Ruback was named one of the Bergen Record’s Players to Watch for the 2015 season and the 1st doubles team was named all-second team in the Big North National Division in 2014. The team hopes that this great play and tradition will continue through this season.

The 2015 season also marks the first season that the team will play on the new tennis courts. These new courts are a fantastic addition for both the girls and boys tennis teams as they allow for the varsity and junior varsity teams to practice and compete simultaneously by using both the new and older courts. As Ruback explained, “We finally have courts that everyone can play on.” The new courts feature an extra court compared to the older tennis courts and a gazebo. “The new courts are very nice, they have no cracks and are very level and I love the shaded gazebo!” Garbaccio said, and seemed very excited. The new courts are beautiful and the PV community should climb the hill leading to the courts to check them out as well as some girls’ tennis.

Head Coach: Tom Gallione (1st season)
Last year’s record: 5-16
Key losses: Anna Faytelson, Cathy Choi
Key varsity returnees from last year (grade): Brianna Ruback (12), Noelle Garbaccio (12), Grace Cho (12), Lauren Dentato (12)
Key varsity newcomers (grade): Jessica Ruback (9)
Strengths of team: The majority of the team is consisted of seniors who have played 3-4 seasons. Their combined varsity experience will help them win matches, especially at the singles’ positions.
Areas that need improvement: While the strength of the team lies within the singles’ players, it is the doubles players who will need to step up for the team to win matches. Many other sophomores and juniors with less varsity experience will be filling in those spots.