For the first time in more than 15 years, the Boys Tennis team has experienced players in the doubles 2 and doubles 3 slots, which has allowed them to be more competitive with the advanced teams in the city. Led by well-rounded captains Senior Kay P and Junior Chris L, the team has been making a strong push for the playoffs.
The coaching staff has been impressed with what they’ve seen from the players. Coach Donald Simms says, “The team’s been fighting really hard and has been competitive against schools that we’ve never been competitive against before, I think it’s the strongest and deepest boy’s team we’ve ever had.”
With this newfound competitive spirit, the team will carry that energy to an important match up, the play-in match against Balboa, which will be on Monday 5/5 at 3:30 pm, and the outcome of the match will be the deciding factor of which team will advance to the play-offs this season, happening on the Wednesday later in the week. The Lions should be confident going into the match as last time the Lions played Balboa on 4/16 was a win, with a full sweep for both singles and doubles!
Getting to a play-in match wasn’t easy, as the boys had a rough start, with a match postponed against Lowell, a 1-6 loss against Lincoln and a close 3-4 loss vs. Balboa. However the Lions started to turn their season around with a redeeming win against Burton, 5-0. Additionally, the team showed improvements on 4/18 game against Lincoln, ending with a 3-6.
The team not only has a strong experienced group this season but also added 7 new players to the team, Coach Evan Roth excitedly shares, “The Lions’ new players have made leaps and bounds in advancing their skills in less than 3 months!” They’ve been adjusting well to the scoring rules and techniques, and tweaks and rotations are being made to the lineup every game.
“We have strong seniors this year because they are experienced and have been playing for 3 years, and the new players have been developing their skills very well. Most of us came into the season prepared and positive,” says Chris L.
This week the team is taking a break to focus on their individual games at the All-City Tournament, starting with 2 rounds of Varsity Singles on Monday 4/28. Varsity and Novice Doubles start on Tuesday 4/29, and will have their finals on Wednesday. The matches will take place at Lowell HS Monday-Wednesday, and Goldman Tennis Courts for Thursday-Friday for finalists.
