After a third place finish last year at state, the Spartans Boys Tennis team hopes to use its senior leadership to make another run in the state tournament.
In the previous season, the Spartans finished with only one loss as a team and placed third after losing to Iowa City West in the semi finals. The returning team will have a lot of similar faces as their time will look almost identical to the previous year.
Jake Dolphin has been a four-year varsity player for the tennis team and loves the amount of experience that the team has returning. “We only graduated one senior, which gives us a huge advantage in the high pressure situations compared to the other top teams in the state.” Dolphin also believes with the first matches right around the corner, anticipation has never been higher. “Since team state last year, I think everyone is itching to get back there and redeem ourselves; we can’t wait for the season to officially start.” The Spartans know they are capable of being a top team in the state and are ready to get the season started.
Senior Nathan Barlow believes that the excitement buzzing around the team will be extremely beneficial to the amount of hard work the athletes put in. “For all the seniors on the team, it’s really our last chance before we graduate so we want to put all of our effort into the season,” he said. “This year, our team is super pumped to see what we can do with the talent we have returning; [it] should be a great year.” With it being the seniors last season, they will be the most experienced on the team. This gives the seniors an opportunity to lead the team and help develop young players.
Folu Adekunle is a sophmore on the tennis team and speaks highly of the senior leadership throughout the team. “The seniors love to lead by example and show us how it should be done,” he said. “They are also really positive and that is kind of like a confidence booster for the rest of us.” Throughout the season the seniors plan on using their knowledge to help improve their team as a whole and give the future of the tennis team something to look forward to.
The season cannot come soon enough for the seniors as they hope they can make the most of their last season together. The Spartans first meet is against Muscatine this Tuesday as they look to start off the season on a positive note with a win.
