Beginning their new season, the boys tennis team’s goal is to make it to state and improve upon last year’s accomplishments.
“Last year the team made it to the sectional final and lost to CBC 5-3. I don’t think we are going to do anything different this year,” Coach Jason Townsend said.
Besides making it to sectionals, the team had two important wins during the season.
“We had some really great wins. There are two that stand out to me. We beat Lafayette 5-4 in the district final. That match came down to the last court. The other one is our Sectional semi-final versus SLUH. We beat them so soundly in singles 5-1, that we didn’t even have to play doubles,” Townsend said.
The team only lost one of the top varsity members.
“Many of the teams lost a lot of their seniors, who were their top players, but we still have our top four,” sophomore Kenji Yanaba said.
Along with the returning members of varsity, two freshmen have come out to join the team.
“Matthew Dixon and Trent Geiger should contribute in our top eight this season. They will give us some energy and provide some much needed depth,” Townsend said.
Matthew Dixon has been playing for most of his life and has grown up playing the sport.
“My dad is a professional tennis instructor, so I have been playing for years which made me want to play high school tennis,” Dixon said.
Along with Yanaba, Dixon and Griger, senior William Tong, juniors Scott McKnight, Joe Ross and sophomore Dillon Youngberg are returning to the team with goals of their own.
“To prepare for the season we need to practice hard, have match play and work on our metal game,” Ross said.
Besides working during practice, the team intends to practice more than just the organized times.
“We will go out on weekends to play, put time in and focus. I think we have a lot of potential, but that doesn’t always transfer over to our matches, so we just need to focus,” Tong said.
With all this in mind, Townsend wants the team to finish in the final four at state.
“We are going to just try to get stronger from where we left off last season physically and out work our opponents. They know what I expect and they share the desire to finish what we started last season,” Townsend said.
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