PROSPERITY — Mid-Carolina High School senior Elise Mills has been named the Class AAA Tennis Player of the Year by the South Carolina Coaches Association of Women’s Sports (SCCAWS).
Mills is a four time State Champion in individual girls tennis and a University of South Carolina signee.
For Mills, winning Tennis Player of the Year meant a lot especially in her final season with the Rebels.
“It’s taken a lot of work, I started playing tennis when I was four so there’s been a lot of tournaments, lots of ups and downs through the road and it’s crazy to think that high school tennis is over with now, but I’ve got college tennis next and I’m excited for the new chapter,” she said. “It means a lot and I’ve worked really hard, I’ve really worked hard, the school has done a lot for me so it was great to be named that for the school.”
She also credited her coach, Kenneth Sanders, who retired this year, and her team for helping her get to where she is today.
“It’s going to be hard to find another coach that was as motivated and as determined as he was for this team. He did a great job leading this team and he was always out there helping, he put a lot of time into helping us get to where we are and was a good role model for everyone on the team. He pushed every single one of us to strive to do our best,” Mills said. “My whole team helped me get here, we motivated each other and we worked to be the best so it meant a lot just for the entire team and Coach Sanders.”
Sanders said Mills is an outstanding player and teammate and is an example of how if you work hard you can achieve good things.
“They (USC) are getting an outstanding player and an even better person and teammate,” Sanders said. “When she has home games I’m going to go to as many as I can, I’m not a Carolina fan, but I’m an Elise Mills fan.”
While Mills closes the chapter on her high school career, she will next embark on her college tennis career at USC. She said as she moves on she hopes her former teammates will continue to work towards having successful seasons.
“College will be a whole lot different, you have the season in the spring, but we play tournaments in the fall so we’ll be achieving more goals as a team instead of just doing individual,” she said. “I hope they (tennis team) continue to work really hard because we’ve had a bunch of great seasons in the past and if they continue to work hard they will have the opportunity to get just as far, I hope some of them go to play college tennis, too. They all have a bright future ahead of them.”
