After one of its most successful seasons last year, the boys tennis team is hoping to carry that momentum into this year. Doing well in Conference is the main goal.

“I would like us to do as well as, if not better than, our fifth place at Conference last year,” said head coach Jill Tomasello.
There are 14 teams at the Conference tournament, meaning a fifth place overall is a great success. This is especially true due to the competitiveness of the Fox Valley Conference.

“Our conference is extremely competitive,” Tomasello said. “We have a very good representation of schools from the FVC at State- usually about fifty percent of our schools.”
There are many schools in the conference that have their players play club tennis during the offseason, leading to hot competition for the top spot in the FVC.

“The only conference that is better than ours is the North Suburban Conference, which includes larger schools like Stevenson,” said senior and first singles player Matt Kizhakkadathu.
The North Suburban Conference features annual competitors in all sports, let alone tennis, including Stevenson, Lake Zurich, Lake Forest, Libertyville, and Warren. Despite all of the local competition, the team is excited for the present and the future. One of the many reasons is the increased interest in the tennis program.

“The last couple of years we have been up in numbers. We had to make ten cuts this year, and we usually don’t have to. On top of that, we had 115 campers this year,” Tomasello said.

The high numbers have led to high confidence in getting a top Conference position, leaving the team to focus on smaller goals and getting better as a team overall.

“We just need to have trust in our abilities and teammates,” said senior and first doubles player Zach Harmon. “If we have our fundamentals down, we can win each point at a time, which builds into games and wins.”

Working on perfecting basic skills is a priority for the team, as there are only five seniors.

“We have a young team. They have to step up now, and it will help prepare them for next year when they are in the leadership roles,” Harmon said.