Following last season’s sectional win and third place finish in conference, Boys’ Varsity Tennis is back in full swing. With a new assistant coach, a majorly underclassmen team, with two freshmen and three sophomores, and strong team chemistry, the team is ready to take on the season. Mark Dec, Varsity Boys’ Tennis Assistant Coach said.

This season, with nine returning players, five of them seniors, the coaches aspire to repeat a sectional championship, as well as sending as many players as possible to the state tournament, Dec said. The team has been working on focusing in practice in order to perform the best possible way in matches.

“They’ve done all the work that they can do during practice,” Dec said. “When we show up for matches, it’s just time to play, have fun, and trust all the preparation that you did for that to happen.”

With consecutive matches and tournaments against top state teams, South has had to work extremely hard under pressure, Phil Ralston, Varsity Boys’ Tennis Head Coach said.

“Being in tight matches is forcing us to play under pressure,” Ralston said. “The [team] have done a great job with it [even if] we haven’t come out on the winning end on all of them.”

Based on the nature of the sport, pressure is constantly on to win singles or doubles matches. To combat this, South tennis must find ways to relax before matches, captain, senior Johnny Raicu explained.

“If it is a home game, we’ll all warm up together, do our normal pregame routine, compile together, and say a few words as captains [to] make sure that we’re all mentally prepared for the game,” Raicu said.

Even though tennis is largely an individual sport, the team’s chemistry and camaraderie are two of its most im- portant strengths, Raicu said. The seniors work hard to improve not only themselves but also their younger teammates.

“We all work really well together,” Raicu said. “There is a team aspect of everyone trusting each other and pushing each other to work harder and get better, and there’s been a lot of that this season, from the freshmen all the way to the seniors.”

For the coaches, getting their team to come to practice every day ready to improve is key, Ralston said. In order to improve, the team needs personal and group goals, trust between each other, and leaders that create strong bonds, Raicu said.

“[We want to] come in every day with a goal in [our] minds for what [we] want to improve and then work to get just a little bit better every single day,” Raicu said.

The team has three captains, all seniors, whose goals are to maintain motivation and trust among the entire team. The captains, Luc Zarzuela, Alex Denizov, and Raicu all bring energy, example, and aid to their team, Ralston said.

“[The captains] have to be leaders and be able to stay focused and not only win our games but also encourage our last remaining players in the match to continue pushing and continue working hard,” Raicu said.