Boy’s tennis team season ends after a rigorous season

The Fresno Christian Eagles boy’s tennis team season came to a close on Tuesday, May 10th with a loss to the Firebaugh Eagles 7-2. Resulting in heartbreak over losing the chance to earn their spot in championships. 

Fresno Christian is coached by Robert Foshee and Daniel Jessing, who also goes by “Bulldog”. They only had one senior, Trent Wilson, who was their number one player. This year Fresno Christian had six freshmen: Mason Meade, Tyler Maxey, Zeke Hamm, Jacob Pimentel, Nathan Bridges, and homeschooler Bek Jett.

“The biggest obstacle we overcame was our youth. We had six freshmen out of our ten players, most of whom were new to the sport,” Bulldog said. “This meant we were starting at the beginning.”

Tennis was a completely new sport for most of the freshmen players, such as Meade experienced.

“I needed something to fill my time and tennis seemed like a lot of fun and I felt called upon to play it, it is a ton of fun, but it was hard at first,” Meade said. “I quickly improved making my tennis experience even better, it is a much more competitive sport than what I thought it was.” 

The tennis matches had intense moments, Pimentel has played tennis and had taken lessons at Copper River for almost his entire life. He shares his biggest moment from the season. 

“My challenge from the season was in the Valley Championship. We were down 4-1 and I had to win my singles match just to keep us alive,” Pimentel said. “The other team was cheering as loud as possible after every point and all the stress while taking it to tie-breaker and finally closing it out.”

The team wasn’t sure how far they would be able to go in the playoffs till the brackets came out.

“The way playoffs are done has changed several times, so we didn’t know what to expect this year,” Bulldog said. “But when the playoff brackets were released Coach Foshee and I immediately knew we could make a deep run.”

Fresno Christian always came out to play their best every day and work their hardest.

“From top to bottom this group was willing to work. We had a lot to improve on and they always showed up and were ready to get better,” Bulldog said.

With Wilson graduating, the Eagles lose their number one player, but everyone else will continue playing on the team. Fresno Christian may have come up short this season, but they are still in high spirits for the future.

“They say history likes to repeat itself. Well in 2018 this team lost in the Valley Finals. In 2019 we won it all,” Bulldog said. “It’s 2022 and we just lost in the Valley Finals. Will the trend continue in 2023? I sure hope so!”

The coaching staff is excited with this group that they have and believe the future is bright for the Eagles. Everyone apart of this team ready to compete again and have their eyes set on dominant success for this team.

For more from The Feather visit Body Dysmorphic Disorder disrupts teenage confidence or Greg Stobbe’s  life altered by cancer, visual impairment