Pulling up to ESD after a long day of school on Thursday, March 3rd, the Jesuit tennis team was very confident going into this match seeing as, for the past three years, Jesuit has had overwhelming success against the opponent. The Rangers met outside the tennis courts to hear a short speech from Coach McDaniel before heading out onto the six courts for the first of ten matches.
Jesuit quickly began to realize that as the opening matches started, this was going to be a strong victory. Unsurprisingly, undefeated doubles team Hayden Kissee 17’ and Campbell Frost 16’ easily breezed through their first and only match of the day, winning 6-3 and 6-2. Equally as impressive, John Lindberg ’18, last week’s finalist in the Westwood Invitational, easily won his match in an hour, successfully decimating his opponent 6-0 and 6-0. Lindberg “really felt like [his] tennis game has come together, and [he] hope[s] with my previous successes [he] can move on to the next tournament, and eventually district, and pull out a win.”
This kind of confidence and optimism resonates throughout the team as everyone seems to remain positive and growing stronger going into every match as Jesuit adds to its undefeated streak. Furthermore, Pierre Craig ’16 continued on his strong performance in the Jesuit spring season, winning against ESD’s top player 6-3 and 6-3, showing how even the best players from top teams around the city of Dallas are still no match for the Jesuit Rangers. Other match winners include Nico Elizondo ’18 and Alex Giebler ’18, who finished their first match quickly 6-0 and 6-1. They actually managed to win so quickly that they got to play a second match against a higher ranked team on ESD’s lineup, winning this match as well 6-2 and 6-2. Furthermore, Junior Joey Cistulli claimed a decisive win at ESD, explaining how “I think I played better today than most, my forehand really stayed consistent today which allowed me to win easily.” Additional victors were Ben Casey ’18 and Max Moundas ’19, a sophomore-freshman pairing, that managed to win big, coming together for the first time as a team. Federico ’16 and Marcelo Pier ’18, who both played singles and swiftly won their matches in less than an hour, had the luxury of ardently cheering on their teammates from the sidelines.
Even though ESD was no challenge for the Jesuit Ranger tennis team, seeing as the group won every single match, the next match will be against St. Marks, a team that Jesuit has consistently gone back and forth on wins and losses. Both coaches easily remember the last battle against the senior-heavy St. Marks team, barely edging out a victory in the final three out of fifteen matches. With Jesuit having barely won the last time they played St. Marks and losing the time before, the Rangers can expect a real challenge after Spring Break, making this spring season challenging yet very exciting.
