The men’s tennis team wrapped up its fall season after three players competed in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Regional Championships in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Junior Arthur Hermange, First-Year David Larraga and junior Gabriel Luna competed in the tournament from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1. Each player for the Vikings won at least one match.
It is one of the most important individual tournaments of the year, that is true. We can see where we stand compared to other teams,” junior Nicolas Navarro said.
Throughout the fall seasons, junior Emilio Rodriguez said they felt confident about the team’s direction, seeing the improvement everyone has made from last year.
“[We had] big improvement from my freshman year, where we made it to conference and lost in the first round,” Rodriguez said. “We did much better last year, and this year looks good. We have great players on the team. I think our level has gone up this fall.”
This year, the team chose Luna as well as Hermange, who is the reigning CCIW Player of the Year, to lead the team as captains. Last year, the Vikings did not have captains because the team had no seniors.
According to Luna a team with no captains could create an interesting problem with a lack of accountability within the group. This year however, that will not be an issue for the team with there being more responsibility among its members, due to the leadership that the captains provide to the team and pushing the rest of the team to fulfill their goals.
“One of our first goals was to be more of a team because without having a leader, you kind of don’t care that much,” Luna said. “Now we are more united and working to reach the top spot because we can be there.”
The Vikings start their spring season on Feb. 4, 2024 when they face off against Illinois Tech at home. During the spring season, the Vikings play individual schools rather than invitationals and tournaments that have multiple teams.
“There’s a different feel because, as a single school, it’s just our team against the other team,” Rodriguez said. “It’s very competitive.”
The start of the spring season also means that they will start to play against CCIW opponents in matches rather than in tournaments, like ones in the fall. The Vikings look forward to those matches because they bring a new sense of competitiveness and energy that non conference matches don’t carry.
“It’s not even comparable,” Luna said. “But when North Central and Carthage match with us, we are super competitive. If you go, you can hear everyone screaming and cheering.”
One thing Luna and Rodriguez want to continue seeing from the team is consistency. Consistency is crucial in keeping a team confident and the players at their best. Using the momentum from matches in the fall season can continually be improved upon for the upcoming spring season.
“I’ve been pretty satisfied, but we can still improve. There are a lot of freshmen we can work with,” Luna said. “We can be the best in spring this year if we do things well before the season.”
The players continue to train between the fall and spring seasons. They often practice against one another, and those training matches are intense. One description of this team that Navarro used is competitive.
“We’re going to be very competitive across the lineup. We have a lot of players fighting for those spots to play. We’re going to do good things this year. I’m very confident about that,” Navarro said.