Nicole wraps up eight years of Rafterys at Pennsbury
BucksLocalSports Editor The year 2012 will forever be etched upon the memory of Pennsbury tennis coach Lindsey Gebeau for this is the last year she will have the pleasure of having a Raftery on her team.
A senior and the last of three Raftery sisters, Nicole is graduating in gune. gust like her sisters Danielle and Kathleen, she and her partner went undefeated in Suburban One League (SOLF play this season.
The Lady Falcons have seen eight consecutive seasons with Rafterys. All of the Raftery girls have played in the No. 1 doubles slot, the one reserved for the best tennis duo on the team.
“It’s nice to have siblings playing the same sport on the same team,” said Gebeau. “What’s even more special is that they all have an amazing talent for doubles with each having great ability for ball control, net play and doubles strategy.
“What takes years and years of hard work to learn, the three are naturals.”
,n GHEHDu’s fiUsW yHDU coaching varsity tennis, Danielle, a 2009 graduate, together with No. 1 doubles partner Paige Deiner, went 14-1 overall, undefeated in the SOL while going 4-1 in postseason play. Anchored by No. 1 singles player Lauren Rossi, the Falcons shocked top seed Lower Merion in the 2008 District 2nH AAA TuDUWHUfinDOs, when they picked their Main Line rivals off, 3-2. For the Aces, it meant their team would not be in the state SODyRIIs IRU WKH fiUsW WLPH Ln a decade.
Last year, Nicole teamed up with Kathleen, a 2012 graduate when Kathleen’s former partner Marisa Millenson decided to switch to singles play. Together, the Raftery girls went 12-2 overall, undefeated in league play and 1-0 in the postseason.
With Millenson, Kathleen went 24-2 overall while going undefeated in the SOL in 2009 and 2010, combined.
With Kathleen graduating in 2012, Nicole teamed up with Emily Zygmunt this sHDsRn Rn WKH fiUsW GRuEOHs court. Together, the duo went 15-1 overall while going undefeated in league play.
The 2012 season complete, Nicole is the last of the Raftery girls to play Falcon tennis. For the last eight years, a Raftery has occupied at least on slot on the squad. Gebeau was there for fivH RI WKHP.
Coaches from other teams have always complimented the Raftery girls on their ability to play doubles. One wanted to videotape them playing and present the video to his team on how to play doubles.
The Raftery tennis lineage doesn’t stop there. Perhaps it even begins with parents Tom and Linda.
While Tom didn’t take up the sport until the age of 20, he has captained and competed on numerous rSTA tennis teams that have advanced to the postseason. In 2009, he and Danielle competed on a rSTA 7.0 mixed doubles team that earned a ticket to nationals.
“Growing up learning to play tennis in my family, we always played doubles so we developed a lot of the skills needed when you are playing with a partner, said Danielle who plays for the games Madison rniversity club tennis team that went to nationals last year.
“It’s something that’s acquired through practice and LW’s PRUH GLIfiFuOW WR WHDFK.”
“It’s a lot of movement and you have to work with your partner really well; it’s more like a style.”
Danielle never had the pleasure of playing doubles tennis with any of her sisters at Pennsbury though she was on the same team as Kathleen, who played No. 3 singles as a freshman during Danielle’s last season with the Falcons.
With the Rafterys being born to play doubles, the singles slot proved to be a tough task for Kathleen. Still, Danielle remembered times when her younger sibling came through for Pennsbury.
“To watch my sister win some of those really long matches when the game was on the line were some proud moments for me,” said Danielle.
Danielle registered some proud moments for the Falcons, herself. Her junior year, under then coach Glenn White, Pennsbury won the fiUsW URunG RI sWDWHs DW D ORFDO club, earning a ticket to the TuDUWHUfinDO URunG sHW WR WDNH place the following weekend in Hershey. Problem ZDs fiUsW sLnJOHs sWDnGRuW that year for the Falcons was LDuUHn 5RssL, Dn LnfiHOGHU with a big bat for the Pennsbury softball team. Rossi could not make the state tennis tourney due to a previous softball commitment.
That meant that every one of the Falcons would have had to move up one slot. The move would have split even the doubles teams apart so Pennsbury elected to forfeit WKH fiUsW sLnJOHs FRuUW UDWKHU than divide all the doubles teams.
“We only had four courts so essentially everyone HAD to win,” said Danielle, looking back on the 2007 state tennis tournament.
The Falcons DID lose one of those courts and in the EHsW RI fivH IRUPDW FRuOG nRW afford to lose one more. The pressure was on, Danielle remembers. Her and her partner Kisha Lowenthal lost the fiUsW sHW 6-2 DnG WUDLOHG WKH second 5-0.
“They were killing us,” said Danielle. “We were getting rolled.”
Danielle remembers the pressure mounting that day playing in front of a large family contingent with all eyes looking down onto the