Park boys tennis traveled to Blake School to compete in a singles and doubles tournament May 22. On a windy day, the team was successful but fell short as the matches advanced, concluding their season.
Coach Greg Holmbeck said the team prepared for their matches by simulating in-match situations. He said they did this by doing practice matches all week.
“We had individual practices for five days leading up to the tournament, in which we did a variety of drills and practice matches,” Holmbeck said.
Junior Crew Lund said he thought the meet went well. He said overall the team played well despite not advancing to the next round.
“It went pretty well, we played pretty well as a team and overall it was a good day, we all had some success,” Lund said.
Junior Isaac Joseph said he found this meet to be successful for himself. He said he moved well and stayed locked in for the entire match.
“I hit really well, I moved my feet finally and I stayed mentally in it the whole time,” Joseph said.
According to Lund, the team was ready to play. He said their experience helped them mentally prepare for the tournament, along with their coach’s assistance in gameplanning.
“We have a lot of experience, so mentally we were all ready to play,” Lund said. “The coaches gave us advice and helpful tips to adjust our gameplan.”
Joseph said he prepared for this match by hitting backhands. He said the coaches played a big role in helping with this at practice.
“I hit a lot of backhands, the whole week I just had coaches hitting backhands at me so that I could practice,” Joseph said.
Holmbeck said the team found success throughout the season, and he thinks the season went very well. He said the team triumphed through major challenges.
“We won some matches that were really, really close, that could have gone either way,” Holmbeck said. “We also performed well against teams that have traditionally been better than us.”
