WICHITA, Kan.—
Independent senior tennis athlete Jillian Poynter has had a successful tennis career over the course of the past three years, and has been an integral part of a Panther team that has had two runner-up team titles and a third-place finish. Poynter first started playing tennis when she was four years old. She comes from a tennis family, so it was only logical that she would begin.
“My sister played, my parents played and my grandparents did (too). It’s just sort of a large tennis family,” said Poynter.
Poynter’s older sister was an individual State Champion in singles for Independent, and was a team State Champion multiple times as well.
“I would watch her play and it would seem fun to me,” Poynter said.
Her sister also served as motivation. Having an older sister who was accomplished in the sport made Poynter want to train hard and excel so she would play her best as well.
“After she would make it to State, I would be like ‘oh I want to make it to State too,’” she said.
Poynter has been a member of varsity for Independent since her sophomore year. As a sophomore, she played No. 2 doubles with Emily Ramseyer. The next season she also played with Ramseyer, but this time the team moved up to the number one slot. After her partner graduated, Poynter continued on as No. 1, but this time played with sophomore Cara Anderson.
With Ramseyer, Poynter took third two years in a row at State. She considers their performance in their first State tournament together her biggest accomplishment in high school.
“I was pretty excited my sophomore year that I made it to State and we went so far because I wasn’t expecting that,” she said.
This season, after both her and Anderson having to adjust to a new partner, the pair took fourth.
“This year I was proud of Cara and me for never having played together and still playing well at State,” said Poynter.
