Two new coaches plus a trio of returning juniors Alec Kaczkowski, Joe Egan, and Ben Mizes set the tone for the first half of the tennis season.

“We play a bunch of great schools with good tennis programs and I’m excited to see how that has prepared us,” said Assistant Coach Oerding.

Tennis is mostly an individual sport, with each competitor playing matches, and moving on to the next round if they win.

“Alec is our top seeded team member this season,” said Head Coach Ibnabdeljalil.

This season is both Ibnabdeljalil’s and Oerding’s first year coaching the tennis team. The coaches started the season focusing on the basics.

“Drills and stretching,” said Ibnabdeljalil. This includes exercises in running, match play, and strategy.

The ultimate goal of all the preparation is to make it through districts and move on to state competitions.

“I’d like to win state and get better,” said Alec, who has played since he was 8.

Other players on the team, who haven’t played for as long, are making major improvements in the second part of the season.

“I’ve played since I was a freshman,” said Joe Egan, number two singles player.

The teams to beat, Alec said, are Clayton and Rockwood Summit.

“I want to beat all of them,” he said.

The team has 10 matches left in the season before district competitions, and they have played 6 matches so far.

“The team is working hard and getting better,” said Alec.

The tennis team’s next match is Thursday, April 28 against Parkway Central.
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