On September 2nd, the Jesuit Varsity Tennis team took on Sunset High School in their first match of the season at The Hockaday School. An extremely successful outing, the Rangers brought home a victory without losing a single game.
Mr. McDaniel, one of the varsity coaches, explained that the team simply “dominated”, as Jesuit’s newly-aligned UIL district “is not very strong in tennis.” However, outside of Jesuit’s own district, “the region is very competitive… teams like Allen, Texarkana High, and Lake Highlands [are] all very talented.” Unfortunately for the Rangers, scheduling matches in the fall against top-notch programs such as these proves difficult when they are in different districts.
McDaniel went on to say that the team is “very deep this year… The best competition for us is within our own team right now.” Citing senior experience as well as talented up-and-coming sophomores and juniors as benefits for the program, he believes that the team should be poised to compete when Regionals and other prestigious tournaments occur in the spring. Varsity player Matthew Salazar ’16 echoed McDaniel’s predictions, saying, “We hope we can make it to regionals, and we’re also looking to make it farther than we did last year.”
After their outstanding performance against Sunset, the Rangers called up all freshmen to face Skyline in their second varsity match of the season. Despite their lack of experience, the freshmen readily accepted the challenge without dropping an individual match in singles or doubles play.
Even though all of the freshmen won commanding victories, McDaniel explained that Nico Elizondo ’18 and Marcelo Pier ’18 both displayed “a lot of confidence and poise in singles and in doubles.” He said he looks forward to their progress and believes they will find success as the season progresses and they start to play JV matches more exclusively.
It is no mystery that when a group of athletes as young as this freshmen class dominates a varsity match, they possess talent, but McDaniel said the coaches are particularly “excited for these freshmen coming up” because “when a group of freshmen shows that kind of dominance it is usually a sign of good things to come.”
With athletes from the senior class all the way down to the freshmen dominating Varsity matches in both singles and doubles, this year should be exciting for the Rangers. The Varsity team takes on Irving High School in their next match.
