The OHS Girls Tennis team has been demolishing their competition so far this season with a varsity score of 15-1 and 8-0 in the conference. On Saturday, Sept. 16 varsity earned first place at the Rochester John Marshall Invite, an overwhelming success for the team. Head Coach Curt Matejcek is very impressed, not only with the wins, but the leadership on the court. Matejcek said, “Everybody on the team has done a great job at being a leader at some point.” The captains have shown leadership with ordering uniforms, planning parents night, sleepovers, and more. Not only varsity, but junior varsity players are working hard this season with a record of 3-6.

In practice working on forehands and backhands are the main priorities as well as countless serves and volleys. Strategy is also something that is very important, mainly doubles court positioning. Doubles players need to be continually moving on the court and ready to get every ball that comes their way. Another important component for doubles is being ready to back up your partner when they need your help. Practice always involves a warm up, lots of drills, sometimes practice matches, and usually finishes off with a game.

Junior captain Emily Rahrick’s advice for working through tough challenges is, “Just keep persisting and working hard and you will eventually overcome the challenges.” Rahrick is the team’s number one singles player. Her personal record for this season is 14-2 and 7-2 in the conference. She is constantly moving her feet to lineup correctly for the return, which is a skill that almost every girl on the team is striving for. The Girls Tennis team will be having their last home match on Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 4:30 p.m. against Mankato East.