Behind Frankie Nuss and Natalia Garcia, Gahanna girls tennis team continues winning ways
The way senior Frankie Nuss sees it, the Gahanna Lincoln girls tennis program has become proficient at two of its biggest goals: Winning and creating an enjoyable atmosphere.
“We weren’t expecting to have as good of a season as we had last year, but (we put) up pretty much the same scores against the same teams as last year,” Nuss said. “We’re not only good at winning, but we have good relationships. When you see the doubles teams, they’re always laughing. Everyone has worked hard and had fun.”
Gahanna went 18-3 last year for its most wins under coach Chris Schwinnen, who is in his 14th season, and has come close to that this fall.
The Lions are 14-2 entering matches against Dublin Jerome on Sept. 27 and Westerville South on Sept. 29. They also have won two doubles tournaments.
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Nuss began her prep career by playing second singles as a freshman before spending three seasons at first singles.
Senior Natalia Garcia split time the past three seasons between first and second doubles before moving up to second singles this year.
Gahanna will compete in a Division I sectional Oct. 4 and 8 at Pickerington Central. Nuss and Garcia are the No. 1 seed in doubles after Nuss was a district qualifier in doubles each of the past two seasons.
“It feels pretty good (that I competed at second singles) because I stayed in the same spot for my first three years,” Garcia said. “I feel like I’ve done a lot better than I thought. When (Schwinnen told me) I was going to be at second singles this season, I had watched (2022 graduate) Aubrey (Thomas) there and I thought I’d get massacred. I was thinking I don’t know if I’m ready, but somehow, I’ve pulled off some matches. I’ve lost some that I should have won, but it’s been OK.”
Senior Alana Amer has been at third singles most of the season, with seniors Faith Crist, Mary Grace Halliday, Liz Innis and Alex Wainer seeing action mostly in doubles.
The only underclassmen who have contributed are juniors Jackie Graham and Daniella Guzman.
Gahanna finished second (4-1) in the OCC-Ohio Division behind New Albany (5-0).
Also at sectional, Guzman, Halliday and Wainer will compete in singles and Amer and Graham will form the other doubles team.
The top four finishers in singles and doubles advance to district Oct. 11 and 15 at Upper Arlington.
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One of the highlights for the Lions took place when they earned a 4-1 win Sept. 8 over Pickerington Central. It was their first victory over the Tigers under Schwinnen.
To help secure the win, Nuss beat Alexis Heren 7-5, 5-7, 13-11 in 2 hours, 45 minutes.
Nuss is ranked in the top five in Gahanna’s senior class academically with close to a 4.5 GPA. She is considering attending a Division III college to possibly compete in tennis.
“They’ve (done) great,” Schwinnen said. “This is a great group of seniors. We had a lot of close 3-2 matches. You can have seasons where none of them go your way and seasons like this where they do go your way.
“Frankie is one of those players who does a great job of frustrating her opponents. Natalia is probably the surprise. She just reads the court so well and she’s played exceptionally well and got us some big wins. Alana Amer is another senior who has versatility and she's strengthened our lineup.”
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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Gahanna Lincoln girls tennis team continues winning ways
