Staples-Motley Girls’ Tennis Embracing New Mindset for 2023 Season

With section playoffs less than a month away, the Staples-Motley girls’ tennis still has a zero in the loss column. It’s not a bad place to be for a team trying to make a return trip to the Class A state tourney, where their season came to an end last year in the quarterfinals.

“This year, we’re like a family again,” said Staples-Motley High School girls’ tennis captain Amy Rollins. “Last year, we were probably the farthest apart we’ve been personality-wise. This year we’re close knit again and we want to win and we want to see each other win.”

The girls attribute the mindset shift to head coach Justin Edin, who constantly tries to keep the Cardinals grounded.

“He’s really big on making sure we all have a positive mindset,” said captain Kenzie Erickson. “No matter who we’re playing, whether it’s really hard competition or hard mentally, he always says ‘It’s just tennis.’ Yeah, at the end of the day, it’s always just going to be tennis.”

The girls hope their newfound outlook serves them well, as they look to pick up where they left off at state last year.

“I think we just have to believe that we can do it,” said captain Lauren Rutten. “We did get super far last year. We made it to state, that was so great, but we … kind of fumbled. We were playing top teams and stuff like that. I think this year we just have to go into it as we are that top team, like we have the potential to be there right with them so we can’t look down on other teams and we don’t want to be looked down on ourselves.”

Staples-Motley is ranked in the top five for Class A girls’ tennis in the state, currently resting at number four, according to the Minnesota Tennis Coaches Association as of September 11th.