With the beginning of spring, practice has begun for the boys tennis team. Since head coach Robert Foshee is currently busy with junior high girls basketball, Eric Witters and assistants Will Gonzales and Jacob Williams have been running practice for the Eagles.

Practices have been focused on both correct form in hitting and on different match situations. The Eagles will first travel to Firebaugh, April 4, and then host Dos Palos, April 9.

Sophomore Garrett Hill is optimistic about the Eagle’s chances in league this year.

“I feel like tennis is going really well,” Hill said. “Mr. {Eric} Witters has done a good job so far as coach, and I’m looking forward to seeing what Mr. {Robert} Foshee has to teach us when he can come out. I think we are going to do well in league, since we have a lot of good players on the team this year.”

Junior Adam Loughney agreed that tennis practices have been helpful this year. He noted that the main problem with practices is the number of people absent due to school activities.

“So far, tennis has been going really well,” Loughney said. “Personally, I have been learning a lot from {coach} Witters and improving my form. It would be better if everyone could be at all the practices. A lot of people, especially juniors and seniors, have to miss practices for other activities, so they end up missing parts of practice. Other than that, though, it’s going great.”

Witters believes that since the team is fairly balanced, they will have depth for this year and in the future.

“We have a good, young team,” Witters said. “It’s been a good start to the season, even though we haven’t played any matches. We have young talent, and we’re a well balanced team; these kids are competitors and we work hard out on the courts. We have a lot of depth this year, so hopefully we will beat teams with less depth than us.”

For more sports, read the March 11 article, Softball sport shorts: Orosi.