By Kazi Nassif

Captain seniors Gia Le and Sydney Nobles watched as their Mesquite HS opponents kept scoring point after point. The season was slipping away, but Le and Nobles mounted a furious comeback to defeat their Mesquite opponents and help the tennis team secure third place in the area tournament, one spot off from qualifying for regionals.

“Fortunately we were able to make a comeback and win the next set and tiebreaker to win the match,” Le said. “We play as a good team, and I couldn’t ask for a better partner.”

Le thinks that she played well this season but could still improve on a variety of skills.

“Overall, I think I played well this season and was able to build upon my skills from years past,” Le said. “I’m looking to work on my volleys in the off season. As a whole, we’ve done really well in doubles but can improve on our singles game.”

While the two senior captains helped pave the way for a third place result, Tennis Coach Holly Matkins thought the rest of the tennis team also played well and showed signification improvement throughout the fall season. Matkins was impressed by the team’s resolve in the game against Lake Highlands HS.

“We barely lost to Lake Highlands 10-9, and then we went on to beat them convincingly,” Matkins said. “They played very well their last match to get 3rd.”

Matkins wants the team to keep focus throughout the games and has several ideas on how to improve the team over the off season.

“There’s times where we don’t stick up for ourselves or lose track of our points, and that’s the reason we lost many close games,” Matkins said. “During the off season we need to focus on a lot of fitness, including some sprints and running the mile. We’ll also do some cross training such as playing soccer to work on footwork.”

Freshman Kevin Krishnan believed his successful performance in doubles would help improve his singles performance going into the spring season.

“I feel like my success in the doubles game made my singles game even better,” Krishnan said. “I want to work on my overall game, specifically getting a higher percentage of second serves.”

Krishnan said that he felt the team had great work ethic during the season and believes that with a few adjustments the team could be on its way to an even better spring season.

“I think our spirit throughout was very good,” Krishnan said. “If we have higher percentages we could do very well.”