After Friday’s win against Fort Zumwalt West, the Howell North JV and Varsity Lady Knights tennis team had a very tough opponent to face Monday, Aug. 22. They faced the FHHS Vikings in 9 doubles matches. The team played hard against the Vikings in the 4 o’clock August heat, not wanting to lose the momentum from the great start the previous Friday.

The girls have a new coach, Beth Jameson, after coach Kate Kleiber retired following her fifth season with the FHN tennis team. Despite putting forth their full effort, the girls lost 0-9. Even with such a hard loss, Coach Jameson is optimistic, “The girls played their best and are still learning to play together. They are starting to take note of the good players on the other teams and what they do.”

Many of the girls are optimistic about their performances and the future of the team.

Sophomore Olivia Fetsch and her partner Anabel Mejia-Troop lost their match 4-6, one of the closest matches of the day, but played very well. “I served very well today which is something I have been working on in practice,” reputed Fetsch. “Next time I need to hit softer and focus on keeping the ball in when receiving. I will be sure to focus on hitting well in practice this week.”

JV player Genesis Hudson had a tough match and lost 1-6. “My opponents played really well, but I received their serves much better than before. Next time I would really like to not double fault, so I will continue to practice my serves.”

The Knights took note of what the other team did well to help them in their next matches. Junior Estefania Cruz-Castillo noticed that FHHS had very strong serves, and played cross court really well. Playing cross court is when you force your opponent to chase the ball to the far corner of the court, so that you can then hit it hard to the opposite side where it is hard to get.

The Knights next match is today Aug. 23, against Holt High School. They are optimistic about the match.