The varsity boys’ tennis team’s season ended Tuesday after a 5-0 loss to Parkway Central in the District tournament.

The team got smoked in this match but beat Ritenour on Monday to advance in the playoffs which was a huge win because it was a rivalry match. The match against Ritenour earlier this year was canceled due to weather conditions so this was an extra sweet win for the Pirates.

Though the team had a lot of success in conference, they struggled against out-of-conference schools like St. Dominic and Fort Zumwalt North, they faced this same problem against Parkway Central this Tuesday.

Junior Eric Lee who plays on the varsity level gave us his take on the loss.

“Well, on Tuesday, we played Parkway Central which is usually a pretty good team, but we had one problem,” Lee said. “Our biggest problem was definitely our serving.”

He said serving can be the factor of any tennis match because it is one of the hardest things to do in the sport.

Serving is very complicated because when you serve you have to switch sides and hit the ball into a very small area and you only get two tries. After the two tries are up, your opponent is awarded a point and you still have to keep serving. Some matches, you will be serving the entire time and not get a chance to even play the ball.  Serving is the hardest part of the sport.

This was definitely a solid season for the team though, but Lee said there were some takeaways and learning experiences.

“The biggest takeaway is to just stay relaxed because the more frustrated or worked up you get in a match, the harder it is to get back t0 playing naturally.”

Lee had a nice season tacking on 6 wins to his stat sheet on the varsity level so he’ll be one of the main pieces on the team next year.

Tennis can definitely be a frustrating sport especially for first time players because there are so many boundaries and rules that go with the game. The team had lots of new players this year and they hope to improve next season.