Athlete(s) of the Week: Souhegan duo shines on courts

Emily Readdy and Alex Silva both play a different kind of game on the tennis court, but both give the Souhegan High School girls tennis team the same results.

They both keep winning.

The two seniors are the top two players for the Sabers on a team that has five seniors in its top six. Both have been in the top six since at least their sophomore year and both bring the game and attitude that any coach, including Souhegan’s Rick Katzenberg, would love.

“They are both bright and fine and take life in stride,” he said. “They are a coach’s dream.”

Both Readdy and Silva started the season off strong, helping Souhegan open the season 2-0 by winning both their singles match by an 8-0 count. For their efforts, Readdy and Silva were selected as nh-highschoolsports.com’s Athletes of the Week.

Silva has been playing tennis since she was about 7 years old, while Readdy picked up the game when she was in fifth grade. Both played other sports as well, but Silva dropped soccer after her sophomore year to focus more on tennis, while Readdy has played field hockey since seventh grade and hopes to continue playing that in college.

“Emily has the problem of being a very good field hockey players,” Katzenberg said with a laugh. “She’s steadier, would run through a wall for a point if needed to. Alex was a little futher along when she came to the team. Her game is more stylish. Both are extraordinary athletes.”

According to the coach, whenever they play each other, the match ends up going to a tiebreaker.

Both have high expectations for this season, especially after a junior campaign that saw Readdy make some noise in the state singles tournament. The pair also teamed up to pull off an upset in the doubles tournament.

“We expect to have a good time and do the best we can,” Silva said. “We’re hoping to keep up the positives, and even if we lose one match, we’re not done.”

Silva got a bit of a scare before the season, when a knee injury kept her off the court for a week.

“I hyper-extended my knee the first week and I was out for a week,” she said. “I was really wondering if I was going to be able to play. I didn’t want to go my senior year being unable to play.”

With the injury out of the way, and the first couple of matches under their belts, Silva, Readdy and the rest of the Sabers are focused on a successful year.

“Once you win the first match, it’s like now I can breathe,” Readdy said.

“We know what we have to improve on now,” Silva added. “We know what we’re good at. Hopefully we keep trying our best and winning.”