Undefeated. Dominant. Those are the best ways to describe Sylvie Kimmel’s Fall 2014 tennis season, a first for Doane Stuart and Rensselaer. Kimmel ’15 of Clifton Park and Celina Phillips ’15 of Troy are the first Doane Stuart students to compete on the Rensselaer Rams girls tennis team.
Sylvie made the first year of the DS/Rensselaer Rams girls tennis team one to remember by going undefeated in singles competition in a season that was capped off with a superb performance at the Patroon Conference Championship at Maple Hill on October 3. Kimmel won the singles title for the conference by blanking her Chatham High School opponent 6-0, 6-0. Sylvie is the first player in Rensselaer High School girls tennis history to go undefeated; giving her a very special record in her final season of high school tennis. “I had played [my opponent] two times before the championship, so I knew how she played and could make her frustrated,” Kimmel said. “I have never set a record before so this is pretty cool!” The DS/Rensselaer Rams team earned second place in team sectionals – another first for the program – on the strength of Sylvie’s tremendous individual performance.
Next for Sylvie is Sectionals, which will be held Friday, October 17 in Schenectady’s Central Park. When asked about the program and the possibility of advancing to States, Sylvie modestly offered that “it is fun to be challenged,” but quickly added that “the program is graduating a number of seniors and freshmen should really consider joining! Celina had never played before this year and she had a lot of fun.” Even with difficult individual competition coming up, Sylvie remains the consummate team player, deflecting opportunities for individual praise in favor of promoting the team.
Congrats and good luck Sylvie! We know you will represent DS extremely well!
The Daily Mail (of Hudson) article on Sylvie: Tennis: Lady Rams’ Kimmel, C-A doubles team win tourney