The young team was down 7-9. Three matches remained and the prospects looked menacing. Rackets ready to swing, the matches were close fought, all teams vied to keep themselves ahead, but in the end one team was victorious. Cedar Park Tennis team rallied together and won the remaining three matches, beating Eastview in a triumphant comeback win. Many team members, including senior captain Anish Bose and junior team member Brandon Lee, recall the victory as a highlight of their season. With swells of comradery, pressure, and excitement, the match was one they would never forget.
“For school matches, there are a total of nineteen matches played and whoever wins the most matches out of those nineteen will win the overall school match,” Bose said. “So, essentially it is whoever reaches ten first wins. We were able to rally back and ended up beating Eastview 10-9.”
With highs and lows, Cedar Park’s tennis team’s fall season has concluded. CP tennis advanced to the second round of Area level playoffs, beat LBJ but then lost to Georgetown, ending their fall season. The team’s hard work payed off and they finished fourth in district. Many hours of preparation went into the team’s success this season, including team exercises.
“To prepare for matches, we play lots of practice matches with one another to try to get as much exposure playing against different teammates since each person has their own unique style of hitting,” Bose said.
Along with group preparation, individual team members have their personal go-to methods when getting ready to compete.
“For my matches, I try to stay as calm as possible with a good mentality,” Lee said. “If I’m feeling confident, it helps me to play better and have fun.”
This season the team was composed mainly of underclassmen players because many members of last year’s team graduated. Younger members had to step up this season to take on more team responsibilities.
“I was glad I could contribute to our team,” Lee said. “Next season, I hope I can learn to be a good leader as well as motivate people to have fun and play well for our school.”
In the upcoming spring season, senior members, like Bose, will work individually on their personal game while the rest of the team, including Lee, will continue to play. While Bose works on elements that his opponents seem to attack, Lee will focus on his doubles game and is setting goals for the coming seasons. Lee cites that harsh competition is expected from schools such as Vandegrift, but believes that he and his partner as well as the team can pull through. Though the team ended in the satisfactory position of fourth in district, Lee is setting his goals even higher for the coming seasons.
“In the spring, my main goal is to advance to regionals in doubles with my partner,” Lee said. “As for next fall, we have a very good team and it would be amazing to advance to regionals as a team.”
Reflecting back on the season, Bose cites that a major area the team saw improvement in was volleys.
“Volleys are especially crucial in doubles because being aggressive at the net is the key to winning lots of points, and obviously the better we are at hitting volleys, the more confident we can be at the net, which leads to more points and more wins,” Bose said.
Overall, the team saw immense growth on a personal basis as well as team basis. As for the coming seasons, the team seems to be ready to keep making leaps and bounds of improvement. The other side of the net better watch out, they have some aggressive volleys coming their way.