Tennis falls short against Round Rock

Team looks for improvements

Senior+Luis+Farias+hitting+the+ball+against+Round+Rock.+Their+next+match+is+at+Taylor+HS+on+August+27.

Matt Kostoff

Senior Luis Farias hitting the ball against Round Rock. Their next match is at Taylor HS on August 27.

by Garrett Gage, Staff Writer

The Lions tennis team lost a hard-fought game to Round Rock with an ending score of 13-6. After the match, varsity member senior Adhithya Balaji sees both promising talent from the team and room for improvement in his play.

“I’m not satisfied with how I played yesterday because my singles match was one we should’ve won.” Balaji said. “I made a lot of careless mistakes yesterday that I usually don’t make so I’m not satisfied with my tennis against Round Rock.”

He still believes, though, that there is room for improvement for both himself and the team.

“There were four matches on the boys side we lost that we could’ve won,” Balaji said. “Maybe yesterday was just a bad day for us and we were off our game, but I feel like our team could improve its doubles play a lot more, develop strategies and communicate better.”

Another varsity member, senior Joseph Rexrode, also thinks that they still need some work for the team.

“I think that our team needs to work on consistency before the next match,” Rexrode said. “because in the lower tier matches especially, getting the ball inconsistently is extremely important, and could help us win a few more matches.”

Even with a loss, the team can still find things to be proud about what transpired on the court. 

I think that our team needs to work on consistency before the next match.

— Joseph Rexrode

“The first singles match was an amazing match,” said Balaji. “And almost every point was drawn out and was almost always finished on intense shots. I think there was one point where the number one on our team, Joseph, would be intensely volleying at the net, returning incredibly hard and fast shots with ease. That point was really amazing.”

Rexrode happens to have his own favorite match of the night as well.

“It’s hard to say, since I wasn’t able to watch most of the matches, but if I had to pick an ‘MVP of the match’ per say, or simply of the season so far, I would probably say the mixed doubles team of Adhithya Balaji and junior Emilie Scanlon.” Rexrode said. “Adhithya’s powerful left handed serve and forehand along with Emilie’s consistency and their overall synchronization during their matches are some of the things I would love to see in all our doubles teams.”

On August 27th, the tennis team will play against Taylor High School on an away game starting at 4:00 p.m.