The “Rocky Top” Kings are back in action this fall at Lewis Cass, ready for another great season of tennis. After winning the first ever sectional championship in Lewis Cass history last year, the new and returning players are excited for the season to begin. As the season is approaching rapidly, the team is getting prepared, working hard in both practices and practice matches. Head Coach, Matt Hurst, held countless open courts over the summer and began practicing with the full team at the start of the school year. However, even though the open courts may help, Head coach, Matt Hurst said, “Even with open courts over the summer, I never feel ready for the first match. I could always use more time to get the guys ready and figure out a line-up. Losing 5 of the 7 varsity players has left a lot of holes to fill.”
Coach Hurst talked about losing so much experience on the team. Luckily, Coach Hurst explained, “We have a small team this year, but with a great group of freshman joining the squad. Unlike many years where freshman will typically play JV to gain experience, this year some of them will be a part of varsity. The early varsity experience will push them to improve quickly!” While the upcoming freshmen have big shoes to fill, Coach Hurst is confident playing on varsity will help improve their skills faster to make a stronger team for the years to come. Finally, Coach Hurst was asked about his goals this season. He stated, “No matter what happens the season before, our goals are always the same. We want to work hard every day to continue to improve throughout the season. The season is a building block as we push towards sectionals.”
Not only is Coach Hurst excited for the season, but many of his new and returning players are ready to begin matches as a team. This year, on the team, they have one returning senior, Harrison Clark. When Harrison was asked how he will help influence and lead the team this year, he said, “As the only senior on the team this year, I would say the way I try to influence others is just having fun with tennis during practices because at the end of the day we’re all just a bunch of bros on the courts. I would also say a key part of being a senior is teaching the freshman class how to properly clap to and teach why we look back on dear ole ‘Rocky Top.’” Harrison was also asked about his personal goals for the season, to which he replied, “The dream goal is always to win sectionals at the end of the season. But my personal goal is to win somewhere between 6-7 matches as a player this year.” His favorite memory from his time on the Lewis Cass Boys Tennis team was, “Clapping to the tune of ‘Rocky Top’ but replacing the words with the name of our courts ‘Engle Courts.’”
As the team does not have long to practice before their first match, summer open courts help a lot. Liam Ellington, a junior tennis player, said they had around “6 or 7” open courts practices, and, “I do feel like extra practice before the season does help and will benefit.” When Liam was asked about the loss in the senior leadership, Liam replied, “After losing many seniors, I think the team will have fun even though we are not as strong as a team as we were last year.” After all of the practice this summer, Liam said, “I am most looking forward to spending time with my teammates and having fun throughout the season.”
The Lewis Cass Boys’ Tennis team is ready to begin their season, as it is coming up quickly. They will have their first match on August 20 against Logansport at home. In total, the team has around seventeen matches and tournaments combined with sectionals beginning on October 1. The Lewis Cass Boys’ Tennis team is ready for a good season to possibly make history once again, being back-to-back sectional champions.
