Evanston girls’ tennis lost their star player Anastasia Goncharova who is now attending UC Santa Barbara, but their resilience will help then bounce back quickly this fall.

“Naturally, we’ll miss Anastasia. Her level of play was exceptional and very rare for a high school team,” senior Margot Connor said.

Her absence will be difficult for the team to deal with but they stillYet even without Goncharova,  believe they will be just as successful as past seasons with Goncharovacoach Joyce Anderson is confident they will have success during this season.

“It would be nice to improve on last year’s record,” Connor said.“But since ETHS and our opponents deal with a number of departures from last year as well asnew players this year, it’s too early to speculate what sort of success we should expect.”

Connors is just one of the players on varsity but coach Joyce Anderson believes she has what it takes to continue Goncharova’s legacy.

Anderson cited Connors along with senior Annie Hedges and junior Sophia Demopoulos as players she’s expecting big things from this yearwho can contribute to Goncharova’s legacy. The upperclassmen-driven roster will help propel the team as a whole this season.

“Margot Connor, Annie Hedges, Sophia Demopoulos – actually our entire top 12 are all very strong and will each contribute,” Anderson said.

One of the goals of the team is to “over-perform” which for Connors shouldn’t be too difficult as long as she thinks practically.

“Generally, I think our goal is success. It would be great to win them all, but that’s not realistic,” Connors said. “But, if we properly prepare and put forth our best effort, we’ll be successful.”