LYNNFIELD — Making varsity as a college freshman is impressive, but being, arguably, your team’s top player is something else.
Kayleigh Furbush of Lynnfield stepped into the girls tennis program at Central Catholic this spring, and finished her first season as its number one singles player.
Better yet, heading in, Furbush said her goal was just to make the team.
“I just wanted to make varsity,” Furbush said. “I didn’t have any other expectations.”
Furbush then had to play a challenge match and – little did she know – winning it would make her Central Catholic’s first singles player.
“At first I had to play a challenge match, so I didn’t know that I was on varsity until after I won the match,” Furbush said. “I assumed I was going to make it after the challenge match.”
Being her team’s number one singles player means going up against elite talent. For Furbush, her 10-4 record showed it didn’t matter who she was lining up against.
“I was surprised that this happened,” Furbush said.
Not only did Furbush improve her individual play, but also how to be a better teammate.
“I learned what it means to be a good teammate and just to be there for my teammates when they’re having a bad day,” Furbush said.
When asked about her favorite moment so far, Furbush said she’ll always remember her comeback win against last season’s MVP on Notre Dame Academy.
“When we played Notre Dame Academy, I was in a tough match,” Furbush said. “I lost the first set 6-1, then I won 6-4, and then I went on to win the tiebreaker 7-4. The girl I beat was last year’s MVP, so that’s a memory I’ll always have.”
After losing the first set, and like all great tennis players, Furbush tried to have a short memory.
“I just wanted to make sure I stayed in the game. I kept telling myself that I got the next set,” Furbush said. “After I won the second set going into the tiebreaker, it was pretty refreshing because it was like a clean slate. We were both even, so it doesn’t matter that she beat me in the first set, so I convinced myself I was going to win and I did.”
The accolades then started to pour in for Furbush. She made the Merrimack Valley Conference first team in addition to being named Central Catholic’s singles MVP.
“I had great teammates and a really good coaching staff,” Furbush said.
Despite the impressive debut, Furbush wants to improve in order to take the next step.
“This offseason, I’ll be playing in a tournament and going to a camp. I’m just going to keep playing and practicing,” Furbush said. “I think I need to play a lot more and become more consistent with my shots. If I play more tournaments, I’ll get more of a feel for match play so next year I’ll be more experienced.”
On a side note, one of Furbush’s favorite players is Rafael Nadal, to which Furbush uses their similarity as a strength.
“A strength of mine is that I’m a lefty. I like my serve on the outside,” Furbush said. “The serve goes to their backhand, which some players don’t like.”
