Jesuit tennis continues to develop as the JV team remains dominant and the Varsity team begins to achieve more and more victories. JV maintains their perfect record after defeating Richardson Pearce on September 28th while Varsity also pulled out a win against Pearce on the 26th.
Despite these positive beginnings, Jesuit tennis saw many of its dominant players graduate last year, leaving a gaping hole in the roster. However, on a brighter note, Jackson White ’15 recognized that although talented seniors left, “a lot of the freshmen coming in this year happen to be pretty good.” So, this year, the young team, bursting with talent, but lacking in much needed experience, hopes to mesh as a group as they adjust and improve for their competition.
Coaches are certainly pleased, though, with the effort of all tennis players so far this year. Head Coach Paul McDaniel speaks happily about their development as a team through this adjustment phase when he said, “I’ve been really pleased with how positive everyone’s been, and how well the seniors have treated the younger classmen and also how well everybody seems to be getting along.”
Another setback from being a younger team is that the focus on certain aspects of the game greatly changes once younger players get into high school. An illustration of this idea is eloquently put by Chris Ayres ’15, “we need to work on doubles because a lot of the new guys seem a little unfamiliar with them.”
Coach McDaniel explained how younger guys really need to learn more on this part of the game as he commented, “doubles and doubles strategy is not emphasized as much in club tennis and it’s very important in high school tennis.” He added that “to improve we do not need to blend skill levels but blend different personalities.” Hoping the personality of the team won’t devolve into immaturity this year, Coach McDaniel hopes to see that the younger players can remain focused and care as much as the older guys do.
This year, although dubbed a “rebuilding” year for Jesuit tennis, could turn out to be an extremely successful one as the season goes on, as this team will not give up, nor make excuses.
