As the Jesuit tennis team drove up to the University of Texas at Dallas’s tennis center, the players and coaches quickly realized it was going to be a super windy day outside. During warm up, tons of tennis balls went flying over the fence, adding an extra challenge to the already difficult game. The coach told the players to move quickly around the court and play into the wind, hitting harder when the wind is blowing towards you while hitting softer with more spin when the wind is blowing against your back. With this advice, Jesuit stepped out on the court against their first spring opponents of the season.
Despite such intense weather conditions, Jesuit managed to clinch an overwhelming victory against Parish, managing to win every single match! Even more impressively, not one Jesuit player dropped more than 3 games in each match! Impressive match winners included Nico Elizondo ’18 and Alex Giebler ’18 who clinched an amazing win 6-1,6-0, easily finishing the match quickly and decisively. Giebler commented how, “Despite team difficulties in the beginning and the strong wind, we came together and won.” Next up, Joey Cistuli ’17 won 6-1,6-1 after facing slight opposition from the Parish team, with the opponent making some very close calls during the match. Finally, Federico Pier ’16 managed to win 6-0,6-1, quickly learning to play with the wind and win with no trouble at all. He goes on to state how, “Though it was a windy day, we persevered and pulled through for the win in every match. I’m really glad how good our team is looking during the spring season!”. Fed’s excitement about the match really underscores the team’s strength and confidence throughout the season. Another match highlight was Marcelo Pier ’18 who easily breezed through the competition, not having an issue beating his opponent, coming out on top 6-0,6-0. Finally, Coach Andy Civello commented that “This is a great tune-up for next week’s match in Austin.”
In a few weeks, Jesuit is going to travel to Austin to take on three very skillful teams ranked in the top of the region. The team gets to leave this coming Friday and won’t be coming back until late Saturday night. Only the top 6 varsity players will get to play throughout the weekend against some great opponents!
