The boys tennis team is on pace and are ready for great challenges like Mooresville next Tuesday.

“Over summer, we played a lot of challenge matches to find out who to play where. Now that we have that figured out, we are moving a lot faster at practice. Our singles are looking very good this year and with a new transfer from Center Grove, we have a lot of depth. We have been working on the basics a lot because we have a lot of young guys on the team,” senior Aiden Walton, No. 1 doubles, said.

Although a young team, the boys expect nothing but excellence for their season.

“The Mooresville game is really just like every other game for us. The coach doesn’t single out any game to be the biggest; he just has the expectation that we go out there and win every game,” Walton said.

They also see this as a year they will get the young players in some singles matches and in some varsity matches as well.

 “He’s been talking to us a lot about the lineup, and Coach Graft said that we are going to change the lineup a lot during the season so that we can match up well against good teams,” Walton said. “He is trying to get the younger guys as much experience as possible when we play worse teams, Walton said.”

Although there are some veterans on the team, a lot of new players are learning and trying to do what they can to help the team.

“I was not on the team in the summer because I just started playing, but I know that they were working out every day with the team and with Coach Watson. Ever since I started playing, I have put in work every day so that I can get better and try to catch up to everybody who has been playing their whole life. I am just trying to help the team as much as possible,” sophomore Faustyn Serowick, JV player, said.

Although Mooresville is not a big game for a lot of players, they still want to go out there and win every game.

 “Since I didn’t play last year, this will be my first time playing them, but I still want to go out every meet and play as good as possible and hopefully win for me and the team. I know that we have been working hard enough to beat any team that we go up against this year,” Serowick said.

Even though Coach Graft expects to win every game, players can see some emphasis when he is talking about the Mooresville game.

“Coach Graft wants us to play our best every game and expects us to play our best every game, but there is definitely something different about the way he talks about the Mooresville game,” Trey Graft coach said.“We are preparing for the Mooresville game just like any other game. We plan to win that game like every other game. With it being a conference game, we will play to win way more and will most likely move some of our young guys down to doubles.”