Wahluke boys and girls tennis fall to Connell
Wahluke’s tennis team has gained plenty of young players this year who hope to grow their abilities as they continue through school.
COURTESY PHOTO/WAHLUKE ATHLETICS
MATTAWA—Wahluke's tennis teams both lost to Connell. The girls went 1-4 on the day, and the boys went 0-3, with a lack of second and third doubles matches.
“They have a couple players that have gone to state in the past and we’re still a young team, but we have some older players,” said Wahluke coach Adrian Sandoval. “They’re doing really good so we’re just learning more every day.”
Senior Jeanae Bravo won the Warriors' only match of the day and has only lost one match so far this year. Sandoval has hopes that the older players will be able to help boost the younger players and help them through their experience.
A major factor in their performance Wednesday was the drastic change in weather that they experienced. This made hydration the most important part of the matches with both teams going through the two water jugs they had available, said Sandoval.
“Wednesday was hot so having our players out ... if it's like 70 degrees it will usually be about like 95 degrees (on the court),” he said. “We just need to prepare better for that.”
Wahluke’s tennis team got together Thursday morning to take what they learned from their last game and prepare for their upcoming matches against Naches, said Sandoval.
“We were just working on maintaining a rally, keeping the ball alive, working on a couple lobs, attacking the net a little bit more and to limit that court space,” he said.
Playing against Naches will be a unique challenge as they are a team that is not regularly in the SCAC. This year a few teams have been added into their conference including Cashmere, Wapato and Naches.
“They’re a fairly new competitor that we only see at district and at state if we make it that far, so it’ll be interesting,” said Sandoval.
Wahluke will be playing Naches this afternoon at 3 p.m. at the Yakima Tennis Club.