Starting on March 27, the Boys Tennis team began competing in this season’s first week of meets. Coach Saul Trujillo and Assistant Coach Stephanie Loganbill have prepared their athletes within the span of three weeks’ worth of practice for this long week of home competitions.

“It is a pretty young team this year, as we only have one returning player, junior Jacob Simons. Because of this, we’ve been working on teaching a lot of the basics of tennis, and all of the guys have done a great job keeping up and working hard to build their skills,” Loganbill said.

Many new recruits were added to the team through the hard work and dedication of the coaches to add more players for this season. Although most of the additions are freshmen, the team has dedicated their effort to preparing them for this week’s meets.

“I started working toward this goal at the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year by recruiting my students to join for the spring season, knowing that we would only have one returner. It helps to be a teacher at the high school as well as a high school coach. Not only have we rebuilt our team, but they are learning the ins and outs of tennis, challenging each other to become better as they learn and sharpen their skills — all while having fun,” Loganbill said.

One of these impressive new recruits is Carlos Bautista (9), who worked to be an outstanding tennis player before the season even began. Bautista had worked as last fall’s Girl’s Tennis team manager where he was inspired and motivated to participate in the sport.

“For my part, I prepared myself much more before the season began, and I am very excited to be playing for the team. I think that the hardest part of this week for me was playing and adapting in a doubles team, mostly working on communication and teamwork because principally I am a singles player,” Bautista said.

A multitude of players struggled in preparation for competition, but this did not crush the team’s spirit and grit. The team has worked together as a whole to make efforts to improve and has created an atmosphere of productive teamwork and community.

“I think that I have developed a better relationship with my doubles partner, Jake Simons, as well as today’s doubles partner, Joaquin Miranda. I consider this sport my passion, and something that has caught my attention since I met it. I will continue my growth and hard work to be able to achieve my goals. because you know what they say. You only live once, but you get to serve twice,” Bautista said.

The Boys Tennis team will compete at their next tennis meet on Saturday, April 1, at the Emporia High tennis courts. Emporia has high hopes for this season and wishes the team the best of luck.