With Section 6AA’s looming in just under one week, the girls’ tennis team is looking to build on a Metro West Conference championship after what was a rough start to the season.

Half of the team graduated last year, leaving the Red Knights with plenty of new faces in the line-up.  “It’s been a little bit of a rough season because we lost a lot of players [and] we are kind of rebuilding, but everyone is getting better and better every single match,” senior Lucy Scherer said.

The team started the season with a 1-4 record, losing to tough non conference opponents, which was mostly due to gaining familiarity with how the team would be able to use its new players to win throughout the season.  “We had a rocky start to the season because we did not know how to play at the beginning of the year, and it was a whole new adjustment with new players, lineups, and strategies for winning,” senior Jordan Sims said.

Once the conference schedule got going in full force, however, the team finished 6-2, good enough to win the Metro West Conference and gain a solid seed in Section 6AA’s.  Contributing to the improvement of the team is the new assistant coach.  “We have an assistant coach this year, Katie, and she knows [head] coach Rust well.  It’s a lot easier to manage everything with two coaches–if [Rust] wants to help singles, [Katie] can help doubles, or vice versa,” Scherer said.

As the regular season comes to a close and the postseason is set to begin, the team is looking to accomplish the goals they set at the beginning of the season–to do well at Section 6AA’s.  “I think with the improvements we have made throughout the season we could be successful in Sections,” Scherer said.