Freshmen are young and full of hope – and sometimes full of surprises as well. For example, freshman S’ynia Warren at Lakewood High School, a prodigy tennis player, was able to achieve superior athletic status this April by making it all the way to the state playoffs.

“It was a really cool experience for me this year,” she said.

Coming into this year, Warren said she wasn’t really ready for her athletic tennis career in high school, let alone being as successful.

“I was really nervous for high school,” she said.

At first, she had good reason to be, as she said she failed at her first few matches. She wasn’t able to succeed, she didn’t have the right equipment, and it showed. However, after some hard work, she was able to achieve superstar freshman status in just one season as a Spartan.

Warren made it all the way through districts, passing up three seniors on the way, and finally losing in the second round of states in Orlando. This being said, the journey was not without its hardships.

Warren had to quit tennis two years ago in middle school, as she was struggling with mental health problems and could not juggle that, her grades and tennis. Warren said her mother’s death at a young age as well as other stresses that caused her to move in with her grandmother meant she was just fighting to stay afloat.

So naturally, coming into high school, Warren had her doubts about how this school year was going to go, but after hearing about tennis tryouts on the announcements and deciding to participate, things started to look up. If anything, the hardships helped to motivate her even more.

“My living situation inspires me to be better,” Warren said.

During the season, Warren received lots of help from her teammates and coaches alike.

“The coaches really worked with me, and personality-wise (my teammates) are so cool,” she said.

This was not a one-sided relationship either, as all of her teammates and coaches said they really appreciate her.

“We spent practice constantly upping each other,” teammate Aiden Segrest said.

Warren has three more bright years to look forward to of tennis achievement and it will be interesting to see how far she can go.

“It was nerve-wracking watching her play her final matches, but we knew she’d come out on top,” Segrest said.