The Olympian Men’s Tennis team had their first home match this year against Bloomington South on Aug. 23. They were defeated 5-0 but according to their Coach, Matt Malinsky, they lost proudly.

“Our first match was tough. First of all because it was the first high school match experience for the vast majority of our team. It was also a very talented team so they beat us pretty soundly,” Malinsly said.

For most of the team, this season is their first year playing.

“I think this season will be one filled with learning. Like I said, most of our players are very new to the sport,” Malinsky said.

The reason for the large amount of new players is due to the loss of five seniors last year. Sophomore Derek Heideman had to take up the position of Varsity Singles two. Singles two means that you are second in ranking for the varsity singles matches.

“We lost 5 seniors last year so we basically lost 3 varsity players. I had to step up this year to fill their positions,” Heideman said.

Although the team is down a lot of players from last year, the team still has a few things going for them.

“The best part about this year’s team is the competitiveness the guys bring from other primary sports they play which typically have more team dynamics than tennis,”Malinsky said.  “Carrying that same swagger over tennis makes them eager to learn and never shrinking to a challenge.” 

With their winning attitude, Coach Malinsky hopes to improve as the season continues.

“High skilled and experienced teams will likely dominate us on the scoreboard but hopefully we can learn and take lessons from those losses to improve as the season goes on and into next year,” Malinsky said.

Even with the low possibility of winning this year, Heideman has high hopes for this year’s team.

“It is going to be a good year. I don’t know how much we’ll win, but it’ll be a fun year,” Heideman said.