ELHS Girls Tennis Team Secures Success Through Togetherness

On long bus rides home after hot and strenuous matches, the East Lansing High School girls varsity tennis team didn’t just sit in silence. 

They filled the vehicle with the sound of celebration.

After each win during their undefeated season in the CAAC Blue conference, the team enjoyed the feeling of togetherness. For coach Cossette Buckberry, these times were among the many moments that made her smile. 

In her 16th year of coaching at ELHS, Buckberry and her assistant coach, Matt Pfeifer, led the team to numerous successes: a win in the CAAC Blue championship tournament, first place for the third year in a row in the regional competition and a 12th place finish overall in the MHSAA Division II state tournament. 

But these victories didn’t come out of nowhere. 

“This team did a really good job of focusing on the team as a whole instead of individuals,” Buckberry said. “I think that transfers over to our success that we had this season.”

Early on, the team identified themes to prioritize that they felt were essential to their progress: intentionality and building relationships. 

“At the beginning of the season, we talked about words to describe the team and set goals. One of the things they said was ‘be intentional,’” Buckberry said. “When we talked about this, it was really about bringing a commitment and a focus to something that’s important to them, which is tennis.”

To implement intentionality, the team’s four captains encouraged players to show up early to warm up, so when Buckberry arrived at the courts, the team was ready to jump straight into practice. 

“They were go-getters,” Buckberry said. “They took things upon themselves to improve. They didn’t have to wait for coach to tell them to [go] do things.”

During practice, the team dedicated its time to improving the girls’ play and building connections with each other. 

“We did a lot of feeding, working on technique, point play as well as match play and talked about strategy,” Buckberry said. “[Sometimes] we stepped outside of tennis for a second and had fun. We always liked to add in a fun game at the end [of practice] to bring the team together.”

The team bonded by making signs and slamming tennis balls at a pinata during practice. Afterwards, the girls held movie nights and made slushie runs together. 

Such events were organized by the team captains. One captain, Ellery Scales, hoped to promote healthy relationships among the team both on and off the court. 

“It was nice to have a leadership [role on the] team,” Scales said. “We made sure the environment stayed positive, which wasn’t hard. We were all really close.”

This feeling of connectedness was beneficial for freshman one doubles player, Ani Meghea. 

“I enjoyed getting to play the sport that I loved in this environment [that] I felt supported in while also having a super fun time,” Meghea said.

Even though she went into the season hoping to play singles, competing in doubles was an unexpected benefit to Meghea’s season. 

“I realized how much fun [doubles] was and it felt like the reason [why] my season was so successful was because of how well my partner and I worked together,” Meghea said. “I looked up to her a lot.”

That partner was sophomore Evie Laxton, who played her second varsity season this year, after playing with EmmaMae Baker (class of 2024) last year. 

“Evie had experience from playing this position last year with a different partner, which made her know a lot going into the beginning of the season,” Meghea said. “During many matches I didn’t even need to tell her anything and she would know exactly what to do.”

Before high school, Laxton and Meghea played together for four years, so synching up as a doubles team came easy for them. 

“We grew to be very close friends,” Laxton said. “We talked and strategized and gave each other constant feedback and support throughout our matches.” 

The pair ended with a 21-4 record and a finish in the quarterfinals of the state tournament, earning themselves first team all-state honors for Division II. 

For Meghea, this recognition came as a thrilling surprise. 

“I was like ‘how did this happen?’” Meghea said. “It made me so incredibly happy and proud of all the work we put in and it paying off. It also felt so cool to see my name in between all these amazing players who I saw as so much better and to see that we were up there [among them].” 

The team was also recognized as all-academic for a high overall team GPA, an achievement Buckberry holds in the same regard as their athletic accomplishments. 

“The team does an excellent job representing East Lansing with class,” Buckberry said. “They are exceptional student-athletes.” 

But with such high levels of success, pressure and stress can often follow suit. To combat this, the girls relied on the constant support from their teammates and coaches. 

“A lot of times the adrenaline and stress was so high I felt nauseous and sometimes my muscles would freeze up,” Meghea said. “The biggest encouragement was having my teammates there on the sidelines cheering and screaming at every point and having them be able to tell when I was in a tough situation.” 

Even when matches got intense, the girls assured themselves of what they were capable of, focusing on enjoying the game and each point. 

“I’d run into 4 or 5 star recruit players and would feel like I was out of my league,” Scales said. “I just remembered that I was chosen for two singles for a reason and that anybody can beat anybody.” 

The team has big goals next year, with hopes to make it to the second day of the state tournament and place in the top 10. Laxton and Meghea are looking to work toward such accomplishments by practicing and playing tournaments in the offseason, with a special goal of their own. 

“Ani and I want to win a state championship at one doubles by the time we graduate,” Laxton said. “I think we can achieve this if we continue to put in all our time and effort and grow together as players.”

Next season, Buckberry and her returning players are eager to strive toward yet another successful season by continuing to stay true to the team’s longtime beliefs and focuses. 

“It’s a culture that people want to be a part of, because it’s very welcoming, it’s fun, but we also work hard,” Buckberry said. “The girls do a great job keeping that culture alive year after year — it really has had a positive impact on the program as a whole. When you have that great culture, you can go out and do some cool things.”