Conference rivals are an important element of sports at every level, but thanks to an ongoing impressive streak, the boys tennis team have placed themselves into a class of their own in the Central Piedmont Conference (CPC). Having recently completed their third consecutive year of sweeping through the CPC, the team has now won 38 straight matches against conference opponents. This impressive run of dominance showcases a program that was intentionally designed and built to win.
“Myself and the boys together have worked to build a fun program and I think that in-turn has attracted more good athletes to the team. We continue to graduate these great senior classes, but then there is more talent waiting who decide to come tryout for tennis,” coach Sara Cranford said.
A crucial part of their year-on-year success has been roster continuity, as over each of the last few seasons the team’s roster has consisted of a majority of non-seniors. This allows the team to focus on winning in the present while simultaneously developing the players who will be the future.
“Being on the roster for a couple years as an underclassmen has been great for improving my game. Everybody brings each other up to be their best, and you get better by playing with other good players,” junior captain John Howell said.
Over this recent run of dominance, senior captain Xavier Lopez has been a key cog in the machine, playing as one of the team’s top two seeds in their matches.
“Being a higher seed for a few years now has helped me by giving me high level match experience. The need to play better in order to beat better people has made me a better player,” Lopez said.
The team’s affinity for winning has not only shown up in regular season play, but also in the end of season CPC tournament, which the team just competed in on Tuesday. Howell and Lopez won the doubles tournament, while seniors Matthew Lee and Aiden Seymour took home third place and junior captain Sean Cooper earned fourth in singles.
“Overall we had a great run and because of it we’re going to be sending five guys to regionals. We showed that we have earned our conference champion title for a third year in a row and I’m super excited for our upcoming postseason,” Lee said.
Looking ahead, the aforementioned five will compete in regionals next weekend, while the team collectively moves into the newly expanded 64 team state playoffs, where they will be a top four seed in the West half of the bracket. They will look to carry their momentum from years of rolling through their regular season opponents into a deep run this postseason.
