Feature Photo By: Izzy Honey- Senior Lawrence Tielung awaits to hit the ball with his racket during practice one day. For Tielung, this is the first year on varsity.
Rangeview is always booming with clubs, activities, and sports. One of them that is already starting up this year is boys’ tennis. Since just last year, there have been a lot of changes regarding coaching and team dynamic for varsity.
A main difference is the change in coaching. This year’s coach, Eileen Yakish, has taken over the team. Though she is a first time tennis coach, she does have experience from playing in high school and even tried to be the assistant for the girls’ team last year. Unfortunately, she was too late and the position was filled by someone else.
“Carabello asked me about being the head coach for boys this year and I decided to take it,” said Yakish.
There are 10 returning players and only 1 new player on this year’s varsity tennis team. The new addition to the team is a freshman, Caleb Urban. One among the 10 returners is senior, Leng Yang.
“So far, Leng is a big and obvious standout but I’m really looking forward to everyone improving as the season goes on,” Yakish mentioned. She also said that she is excited for them to begin playing in games and tournaments. The idea of preparedness for the season seems to be common across team members.
Kent Ho, a junior on varsity, also voiced his excitement for the season. “I’m looking forward to playing against other schools,” he said. He also mentioned that singles is his main goal this season.
This year, the team seems to be very united in their hopes for the turnout of this season and really focused on winning. Yang is also excited for the long term results of the team.
“I want to help get my teammates ready for state … I want to go to state,” Yang said when asked about his plans this season.
With the season just opening, the current record of the varsity boy’s tennis team is 0-2, but based on the goals that Coach Yakish and the team members made, players say that things should only go up from here for Rangeview tennis.
For information about the schedule for the boy’s varsity tennis team, click here.
