Feature Photo By: Vanessa Guereca – Sophomore Jasmine Bates takes a swing at the net during practice. She and her older sister senior Sarah Bates both play for Rangeview.

The Rangeview varsity tennis season is just about to start; with new head coach Bradley Emmer, the girls are looking to go above and beyond from last season. Last year, the girls varsity tennis team were EMAC Champions.

The girls are about two weeks into the season and so far it’s going great some may say.

According to Coach Emmer, “This group of girls so far is a hard working group.”

“The goal this year and every year is to do better than we did last year,” said head coach Emmer.

Junior Justina Koukeokingthale and senior Elena Dedi who are captains and returning varsity players from last year are looking forward to this season.

Something Koukeokingthale wants done differently is, “having confidence in ourselves when we have matches. I noticed last year that we would be aggressive and go for everything but when the matches came, we tended to step into a comfort zone. I think with confidence, we could have a positive impact.”

Koukeokingthale, who plays number one singles says, “There have been a lot of improvements since last yea
r, so that’s great!” continued Koukeokingthale, “I feel there will be more improvement since last year, [because] varsity and junior varsity are split up and not crammed in one area.”

“The goal this year and every year is to do better than we did last year,” said coach Emmer.

The Rangeview Raiders tennis team is looking to win their conference and become EMAC Champions again. Elena Dedi, a returning varsity player who plays number two singles, says, “I’m very hopeful that this season we can win back-to-back EMAC Champs.”

The team this year is looking forward to playing against Brighton. Koukeokingthale says, “I’m excited for this game even though I’m going to miss it. Brighton has always been our enemy and I’m excited to see who will be EMAC Champions this year.”

The girls first matches begin this Friday, March 10th. First, second, and third singles, along with first doubles will be at Eaglecrest High School. The second, third, and fourth doubles teams will be at Grandview High School. The tournament ends on Saturday.

Keep up to date with stats and the schedule here:

http://www.maxpreps.com/high-schools/rangeview-raiders-(aurora,co)/girls-tennis-spring/schedule.htm