This story has been updated from print to reflect the cancellation of the Sept. 27 match at Hopkins High School due to a Hopkins’ conference match scheduling conflict.

As sophomore Kenna Jacobson walks to a court to begin warming up for practice, says she is anxious but excited for the match against Hopkins.

“(Hopkins is) very good. I’m nervous, but It is going to go well I think,” Jacobson said. “This season has been really good. We are currently 8-2, so it’s been a really good season.”

According to senior captain Hanna Schechter, the team has been practicing various skills in anticipation of the match against Hopkins.

“We’ve been playing a lot of matches and kind of getting into the mindset. We’ve been practicing a lot of deep balls and I know a lot of doubles teams have really practiced being offensive at the net, which will really help us win matches against Hopkins,” Schechter said.

Jacobson said aside being consistent in game play, the team hopes to have a positive mentality as well as discipline with their play when matching up against Hopkins and in future matches.

“(We need to focus on) consistency and not just giving the other team free points, and like making mistakes,” Jacobson said. “Not just like having the mentality going into it that we’re gonna lose (and) always knowing that we have a shot at winning.”

Junior Varsity coach Christine Tvrdik said she hopes the team approaches the match with a competitive attitude.

“The main thing is going into every match with the mindset that we want to win whether it’s a team that we know we should win easily or a team we know is going to be challenging, like Hopkins,” Tvrdik said.

According to varsity head coach David Breitenbucher, a player’s mental game is critical to their success in the sport.

“Tennis is one of the most frustrating sports mentally. We talk about it a lot, you gotta be on your game, you gotta be confident,” Breitenbucher said. “If you’re not confident, you’re not hitting your strokes, you gotta have the mentality that you got to back off and go in the middle of the court more. So we talk about that all the time, strategy and staying positive,”

Senior captain Hanna Schechter said the team is hoping for confidence and a self-assured mindset during the match.

“We all are practicing calming down before every point, being confident. A lot of times when we miss it’s because we weren’t confident enough in our strokes and so we’re practicing like playing the best we can,” Schechter said.

Breitenbucher said everyone has been practicing performance under pressure.

“We’ve done serving where if they miss a serve, the whole team has to run. So I am trying to put more pressure on them, in front of everybody,” Breitenbucher said. “So just little things like that, to have them get more pressure can help us mentally and in the game, I don’t know if it will, but little things.”

Jacobson said she is proud of everyone’s effort, and the team has had a great season.

“I’m excited, We have a match Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday next week and our goal is to win them all, but Hopkins is a very competitive team and is one of the best in our section,” Jacobson said. So we are going to do the best we can and try our hardest and hopefully we’ll win, and keep our record going.”