5th. 5th.  Three years, two top 5 finishes, Cindy Li’s State tourney record is as consistent as her forehand.

Li, currently a junior, has qualified for state every year since she came to Cotter High School as a freshman.

Going into the ’16-’17 state tournament she had set some goals for herself. She knew she was going up against a pretty strong number 2 seed.

” I knew that Isabella was a very strong and smart player. I was going to try my best for the first match but not put too much pressure on myself.” Said Li talking about her first match in the tournament.

“I was going to do what I could and just decided to see what would happen. My actual goal was for the rest of my matches.” Li said.

Cindy had been struggling with an injury for most of this past season. She was dealing with a pulled quad that created some issues for her.

“The first round, my leg felt fine but after my second round I started to feel it act up again but I was not going to let that stop me.”

Li started to feel the pressure and stress for her fourth and final match of the tournament. She won the first set 6-0 and pretty easily.

But all of a sudden Li said the “She felt as if she almost forgot how to play tennis.” She  lost the second set 4-6 and was on to the 10 point tie break for 5th place.

She kept reminding herself that she can’t control how the match ends nor her opponent’s shots, but she could control her own and that is exactly what she did. In a hard fought and tense tie-break, she finally won with the score of 11-9.

Li kept a positive and happy attitude the whole time and knew that whatever happens was supposed to happen that way.

“I have some major goals for next year.” She plans on coming out swinging for her final year of high school tennis.