Park boys tennis faced off against Bloomington Jefferson April 29 at home. Park put up a fight, but after a back-and-forth battle, eventually lost to Jefferson 3-4.
Despite the loss, senior Thomas Halverson said he is proud of how the team played against their tough opponent.
“The team that we played, Bloomington Jefferson, is a very good team and every single position competed very well and played super strong versus this good team. I’m pretty happy with how it went,” Halverson said.
Varsity head coach Greg Holmbeck said the team put a lot of effort into this competition, causing it to be very evenly matched. He said they will use this experience to move forward and learn from their mistakes.
“The match went well because (Bloomington Jefferson) is always a tough team. We almost got the win, but we did this 4-3 in a really close match, so I’m happy considering this close in years,” Holmbeck said. “It was a good learning experience and was the best team we’ve played so far. We will learn from it and get better.”
According to junior Laurenz Kyser, he aspires to make it to state this year with his team. He said he wants to continue to play well and earn the victories.
“Some of my hopes for the season are that we make it to state and that we win most of the games that we play,” Kyser said.
Halverson said he was proud of his performance against a particularly challenging opponent. He said he hopes to have a good position at the section tournament and to enjoy the rest of the season.
“I won two games versus one of the top players in the state, so I am pretty happy about that,” Halverson said. “One of my hopes is to get a good seed for the section tournament because then hopefully we’ll be able to go pretty far, and to just have fun and end out the season with a bang.”
Holmbeck said he wanted to highlight the singles players who won their games. He said the first doubles overcame some challenges and ended up performing nicely.
“Our singles players have played really well. Isaac (Joseph) and Laurenz (Kyser) and Josh (Fink), they all won. Our first doubles were amazing. They had a really tough position and went to 7-6 in the third, but all of our teams played really well,” Holmbeck said.
According to Kyser, he has been playing tennis for most of his life. He said it is a sport he would recommend to others because of the teammates you meet along the way.
“(I’ve been playing tennis) since I was five or six, so like 10 years. It is fun and you meet lots of really nice people,” Kaiser said.
According to Holmbeck, he aims to help the team reach their full potential by the end of the season.
“(My plan is) just to keep improving and keep getting better and moving in an upwards direction, an upward trajectory, and just keep playing well so that we peak,” Holmbeck said.
Boys tennis’s next match is at 4:15 p.m. May 5 against Minneapolis Southwest at home.
