The Pleasant Valley boys tennis team is cruising through this spring season. Out of their six meets, they have yet to lose. Each player has won every match on the varsity level. This feat has put the team at a solid third place ranking in the state.
Their success comes from their top six players. As of April 29, the top six players are in order, Jake Dolphin, Brady Adams, Nathan Barlow, Mazen Alsheikha, Gavin Pangan, and Luke Brunsvold. These players have been playing exceptionally well and have yet to lose a match this spring season.
Randy Brockhage, head coach for the PV boys tennis team, is one reason why the team has had such a successful season. He pushes his players to be the best they can, and to improve upon themselves.
Brockhage accredits the team’s success to their hard work. “One reason that our tennis team is very good this year is because there are quite a few juniors and seniors who have been working hard to improve their tennis games over the past few years,” Brockhage said. “Many of our players have a friendship that often revolves around their shared interest in becoming good tennis players. They’ve been taking lessons year-round and playing in tournaments and pushing each other up.”
Brockhage pushes the players while in season, and the players push themselves during the off-season. Many of the now varsity starters have been putting in time to develop their tennis skills since the start of high school. These years of development have provided the tennis team with the skillset to accomplish what they have, going six meets without a single lost match.
Luke Brunsvold, a PV senior tennis starter, points to the tennis practices when recognizing their accomplishment. “The matches we play during practice are so competitive that they are actually more intense than real meets which allows our team to be successful,” Brunsvold stated.
Brockhage creates an atmosphere during practices that mimics their meets. This competitive atmosphere helps the team develop their skills and hone in on what they need to work on. In order to compete the rest of the season, they will need to play better than they ever have.
The remainder of the season is looking good for the boys PV tennis team. They are expected to win the MAC this year and go onto play in the team state tournament. Brunsvold is excited to hopefully compete at state. “We’re looking forward to team state where we want to take down Iowa City West, the team we lost to, two years ago in the state final,” Brunsvold said.
In order to keep the ball rolling, the team has a few essential meets to get through. On April 30, the tennis team faced off against Waukee. “The Waukee meet will be a real test to how we will do in state,” Brunsvold stated.
The boys tennis team has had a great season thus far. In order to keep their streak of not losing a match alive, they will need to perform on a new level to be able to beat the rest of their competition.
