Boys’ tennis volleys for victory
With a win-loss record of 3-1 early in the season, the Boys’ Varsity Tennis Team has shown remarkable success against tough competition, and hopes to finish the year with the same momentum. Senior and Captain Michael Shanahan attributes the team’s record to the leadership of himself and Co-Captain Andrius Petrauskas, both of which “do whatever [they] can to better the team, whether it be cleaning up after practice or motivating other teammates.”
The team’s only loss was a result of staunch competition in Hopewell, who “has improved a lot since last year and now even has a ranked player taking the spot for first singles”. Despite this loss, Shanahan believes that “one of the team’s biggest strengths is that almost all of us played last year, so we have the experience and have grown exponentially since our previous season”, though he admits that “attendance is one of our weaker points, since we all have extracurricular activities that make it a hard to ensure that everyone is at practice.”
Recently, Shanahan and fellow teammate, sophomore Josh Snell, represented Keystone Oaks at the Monroeville Section Four Singles Tournament, where Shanahan battled the 4th seeded played for a 10-1 loss in the first round, and Snell advanced to quarterfinals and faced the 3rd seeded player for a similar 10-1 loss. With experience and strong leadership on their side, Shanahan hopes to see the team finishing the season strong, as “[they] have a few more strong teams to face such as Sewickley Academy, but other than that [the team] has a good shot at winning the rest of [its] matches.”
As for the team’s future, Shanahan admitted that “unfortunately, this year we have just enough guys for a starting lineup, and once I graduate I hope more people see how fun and easy tennis is to play even if they’ve never played before; like any other sport, it takes practice and commitment, but other than that it’s just a matter of having fun.”
Posted: Tuesday, April 12, 2016