With the boy’s tennis season officially underway, the athletes are looking forward to their first tennis season not impacted by COVID since 2019. With this, athletes will have the opportunity to compete against a greater variety of schools, as well as compete in larger meets and tournaments. As a result, the team has their sights set high on competing at a high level this season, hoping to qualify for higher level tournaments.

Junior Aaric Hager then shares how he is looking forward to having his first normal tennis season, as without the impact of COVID.

“When I was a freshman I got about two weeks, and then we just didn’t do tennis that year, and then sophomore year we had it, but we weren’t able to visit schools as often and do big tournaments and events because of the regulations with COVID being very prominent during that time. But this year, things are going to look mostly normal so that’s something I’m excited for that I haven’t experienced in tennis yet,” Hager said.

Sophomore Paul Spang had similar insight to Hager on the opportunity to play his first full season of tennis. He shared why he’s excited to have a full season with the regular tournaments and matches.

“Yes I’m definitely excited about that. Last year we only had conference, so it’s going to be a lot of fun to play some new competition and play more matches and play more tournaments and stuff like that,” Spang said.

Varsity tennis coach, and math teacher Joshua Forst explains more about how the regular tennis season will look in comparison to the past two years.

“I’m excited for the team to get to experience what the regular tennis season is like after the past two seasons where there was no season and then play was restricted to within the West Suburban Conference last year. The biggest difference will be all of the Saturday invites that span most of a day where players play 3 or 4 matches. Not having these last year meant playing less than half of a normal season in terms of total matches,” Forst said.

Finally Hager shared some of his ambitions this year, and where he hopes to be among his teammates.

“Since I’m now a junior I’m looking forward to big one of those top eight kids and playing in these higher level tournaments like conference, because I should hopefully make it, and be able to play at a high level like that,” Hager said.

Spang also shared his goals for the season including qualifying for the state meet.

“Getting to know the team a lot better and then playing more tournaments. I’m hoping to qualify for state this year. That’s my goal for this season,” Spang said.

Overall, the tennis team looks forward to having the opportunity to compete competitively against other schools according to Forst.

“ Mostly I am excited to get to provide the full normal season experience for this group who has big aspirations and is excited to compete and see where they stack up with the top teams in the state,” Forst said.