All That Racket

Varsity Tennis Finishes Third in District

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Arav Neroth

Focused on the game, senior captain Katie Tran prepares to hit a ball in a match against Leander High School. Varsity Tennis now moves to prepare for their spring season, which is more about individual playing, while the fall is more team-oriented. “Our season went great,” Tran said. “We finished third in district after winning against Leander, who we lost to earlier in the season, which felt really good.”

Penny Moreno, Reporter

They all sit nervously on the bleachers as they watch their teammate step onto the court, waiting for the first match of the day to begin. When the tournament starts, they all cheer with excitement as their teammates face the biggest match of the day, which determines the team that will win. 

Tennis finishes their season with a third place finish in district play. They have finished their fall season and will now begin to prepare for their spring season. Both varsity girls and boys tennis worked together throughout the season as a whole program to earn wins in district.

“My favorite thing about the team would definitely be the way that we support each other,” junior Julie Richter said. “Every tournament and game, whenever someone is done with their match, they go over to cheer on others who are playing. It’s a team-oriented sport in the fall.”

The team’s biggest goal was to finish in the top three teams in the district. Their fall season record was 7-3 and they achieved their goals by finishing third with a win against Leander High School, which was the number one seeded team.

“Fall is our team tennis season, which is when we all work together to get 10 wins before the other team does,” Richter said. “We all fought hard and worked together to get those wins for our team so we could celebrate together.”

During practice, they rally each other, which helps them stay consistent during real games. They also utilize a ball machine which assists them with perfecting their technique. By playing against one another, they are able to work on strategies for the game and work on strengthening the mental part of the game.

“Our team was constantly motivating and pushing each other to work hard every day at practice,” senior captain Katie Tran said. “During matches we would all go cheer on whoever was playing and it was such a good feeling to see the immense support we had for each other.”

During the first round of playoffs, they all worked towards getting 10 wins to win the game but fell short. Their playoff season ended in bi-districts in playoffs, and now they are starting to prepare for the spring season.

“This team has a strong bond,” Tran said. “We often went to team dinners after matches, and despite winning or losing we were always laughing with each other and having lots of fun. This season I was just trying to have fun and enjoy tennis and  not really worry about winning or losing too much and I feel I achieved that this season.”