According to senior captain Adam Johnson, the boys’ tennis team will be facing a shortfall of players for their upcoming 2018 season.

After realizing there would be a lack of players on the team, Johnson said he still feels optimistic about the season’s future.

“I’m really excited about this year. I think we have a great team,” Johnson said. “I’m hoping this year we can get more guys out, have them try out and just to enjoy the game.”

According to junior varsity coach Tyler Foley, low numbers for the sport have been common in previous years.

“I think shortage of players has been a problem in the past, but we’re pushing more and more to get new players,” Foley said. “Our numbers have grown in the last three years I’ve been coaching.”

Johnson said one of the causes for low attendance is the recent departure of a large group of seniors in years past.

“It comes in waves, people and players. A couple years ago, we lost about eight seniors, and we’ve kind of been struggling to rebuild since then,” Johnson said.

Sophomore team member Rafe Covin said he doesn’t think the team’s performance will be hurt for the time being.

“We still have enough players for a varsity and a JV team, but it would be really nice to get more players to play tennis,” Covin said.

According to Foley, the team has not yet secured a specific plan for further recruitment.

“The biggest thing right now is word of mouth,” Foley said. “We’re depending on people recruiting other people that they know. We’ll probably come up with a plan later this season depending on what we find out for numbers, because typically once

 the season starts, we actually have more numbers than what we thought we were having in the first place.”

According to Covin, expanding the team would greatly help the upcoming season.

“I think spreading the word about playing tennis is really important,” Covin said. “The more people you tell, the higher chance there will be more people playing for us.”

Despite the limited attendance, Johnson said he still felt confident about the team’s capability to work together and do well in their conference this year.

“There’s good camaraderie within the team, and I’m excited to build on that further this season,” Johnson said. “I know several people from the team have been hitting year round, taking lessons. We’re really working to get ready for the season, we have a really competitive schedule, lots of matches per week.”

The boys’ tennis team will hold tryouts 3:30-5:00 April 2-4 at the high school’s tennis courts.