by Kayla Stephensen

This past tennis season, there were three freshman boys (and no seniors) on varsity, Zach Schultz, Andy Russell and Cole McCrae. All three have played for roughly five years and as Zach puts it, “I was pretty confident I would make varsity, but I didn’t expect to be second singles. It feels good to be varsity, especially since I was able to displace a few of last year’s varsity players.” All three of their personal records are 12-3 while the team’s is 11-4. He is also second singles to Brayden Kopp.

Andy Russell, on the other hand, commented, “Once I saw everyone who was playing, I wasn’t really confident I was going to make varsity. Eventually I did and that felt pretty good because I didn’t expect it.”

Cole McCrae remarked, “I expected to get the seventh spot and make the team of get the eighth and be first on JV. When I found out I made the team I was happy because I tied for 5/6th and that was better than I thought.”

When asked why he plays tennis and what his favorite part is, McCrae notes, “My favorite part is probably surprising our opponents at the beginning with my serve (it’s only ok though) and then watching their reactions when they realize they just got beat by two freshman.” Schultz explains, “I play tennis because I enjoy the fact that I don’t have to play aggressively because it’s not a contact sport. My favorite part of tennis is returning fast shots at the net and returning overheads.” Russell simply replied, “My favorite part of tennis is playing at the net in doubles.”