The baskets for Chloe Miller and Chisom Nkemka overflowed with gifts and the homemade posters made by teammates with such effort reflected an appreciation for the two Ewing High School girls tennis seniors.
Senior Night was special for the two Blue Devils who have taken quite different paths into the varsity lineup for their final season. Despite their differences, both ended up being integral parts and leaders for the Ewing team.
Miller is the daughter of teaching pro Mike Miller, who also played at Ewing. She’s had a racket in her hand since a young age, but none of the pressure associated with following her father’s legacy.
“I’ve been playing since I was like five,” said Miller. “But never competitive, it was just summer camps and stuff like that. It was more my brothers who would do the lessons and stuff and they’re more competitive about it. But I was into dance and stuff when I was little, so I didn’t play much tennis until around freshman year.”
Nkemka, who is also passionate about cooking in her spare time, didn’t even get into the game until the next year. She was a sophomore at Ewing when she joined the tennis team for the first time.
“I’ve always liked tennis and my sister actually played tennis when she was in high school, so I was like, ‘why don’t I just do this? Nkemka said. “’It seems fun. It’s not like soccer running everywhere, so it can’t be that bad.’ So it seems fun. And then I ended up really, really enjoying it and continued playing throughout my high school years.”
Nkemka had to work her way up through the lineup to make it to varsity senior year. She started on the JV team playing a lot of doubles.
She gained experience as a sophomore and junior with JV matches, but it was her work between seasons that enabled her to climb to the varsity lineup. Ewing head coach Christina Mosteller noticed a huge change in her strokes, quickness and footwork.
“Honestly, I didn’t even know I was getting better,” Nkemka said. “I was just really determined on practicing my form and trying to get the balls in. I wasn’t really noticing the progress until I came back and I made varsity. I was shocked. But I would like practice over the summer and watch videos and stuff.”
Nkemka also showed a maturity and experience that benefitted her this fall. She was a big reason for one of her wins with second doubles partner, junior Abby Ciron.
“Abby said that she wouldn’t have made it through this match that they won if it hadn’t been for Chisom because she was really good with keeping track of the score and really making sure that she knew what was going on,” Mosteller said.
“Her court awareness of what’s happening on the court was big,” she added. “It’s very easy with long points you forget the score, things get confusing and then somebody winds up either losing a point or someone winds up giving away a point.”
It’s the second year that Nkemka and Ciron have been able to play together. That’s been a plus this season as well.
“This year it was way more comfortable with me playing with her and we got much better together,” Nkemka said. “It was easier communicating with her and we knew how each other played. So we were able to help each other out and know what to do to make ourselves better as a team.”
Miller was in the varsity lineup from the start, though she also made big jumps through her career. Each year, Miller moved up the Ewing ladder. She started out at second doubles as a freshman, played first doubles as a sophomore, climbed into the singles lineup at third singles last year and this season finished at second singles.
“I’m proud of myself,” Miller said. “I definitely see improvement since my freshman year. Freshman year, I was nervous all ell. Now I’m more confident in how I play. So it’s cool seeing the improvement.”
Miller had a conservative goal of winning a couple matches this year because she was worried about moving up to the tougher second singles spot. She doubled that goal as the regular season ended.
“She has a great attitude,” Mosteller said. “She tries her best in these matches and when she comes out with a win, that’s even better. But there’s no pressure of being one of the best, even t hough you technically have big shoes to fill.”
Wins have never been her biggest priority, and it’s not the winning or losing that she will take from being a part of the program.
“I’ve found some of like my best friends from the tennis team,” Miller said. “It was definitely a major help when coming into high school, being able to have a team, a group of people that I already knew before school started and then throughout the years getting closer with these girls. Honestly, I’m extremely grateful and as well for Coach ‘Mosty.’ She’s the best coach I could ever ask for, like she’s supportive, she’s nice, she doesn’t put too much pressure on us and I think that’s the best way to coach.”
The two seniors have tried to be leaders as well. Nkemka wanted to be a captain this year, and she lived out that role well.
“I tried to really focus on what I struggled with and help them more in the aspect that I knew that they needed help and I felt like they would relate to,” Nkemka said. “So I tried to be more attentive and guide them.”
Ewing annually draws players from a myriad of playing backgrounds. Some have more years than others. Miller always has been impressed by the way the Blue Devils have pulled everything together.
“It’s great,” she said. “I love being able to see them go from never picking up a racket to being able to actually play against other teams and do well. I think that’s awesome. And I think it’s encouraging to me because I’m like, if they can do it, I can do it. And I think it’s a great sport to play. It’s obviously hard, it’s a lot of fun.”
This year, Ewing had plenty of fun while improving at each position. The Blue Devils finished 3-3 in the Colonial Valley Conference Valley Division, good for fourth place in the division. From a position standpoint, highlights were Micah McGuire avenging an earlier loss with a win in a rematch at first singles, and the second doubles team moving up to first doubles and beating a team Ewing previously lost to.
“From the beginning of season to the end, I can see a drastic improvement from across all the positions,” Mosteller said. “From singles chasing down more shots and forcing their opponents to hit a winner and forcing their opponents to hit one more ball. From doubles, improving our net play and really having each other’s backs. In case the net player doesn’t get it, the baseliner is much more ready than they were in the beginning of season. And the cohesion between players is great across the whole board.”
A win in itself was the turnout for this year’s team. Ewing jumped from 17 players a year ago in the program to 32 this fall.
“It’s not an easy sport to pick up when you’re in high school, but we’re just enjoying having the girls on the team,” Mosteller said. “It’s a lot of personalities that are on the team, but really just focus on improving yourself. You don’t have to like each other, but you do have to respect each other. And that’s making it a really good memory for them.”
Miller and Nkemka are leaving with great memories of their time and their development on the team. Both have plans to go to college, and they might be bringing their rackets for the chance to play some tennis.
“Tennis has always been the part of the day that I look forward to,” Nkemka said. “So as the year goes on, I’m definitely going to miss tennis, just because it is the last year and it’s going to be hard watching the boys tennis season go past. I’m definitely going to miss it and reminisce about it. I will not take it for granted.”
Chloe Miller, Ewing High School girls’ tennis player at second singles, poses for a photo on the court. For more on Miller and the rest of the team, see story on page 16. (Photo by Pixels by Todd.),
