It was a rough outing for the Festus Tigers Varsity Tennis team, as they were handily defeated 8-1. The Tigers were missing some key members of the squad, which created an opportunity for a few Junior Varsity players to step up. Head Coach Angela Tinnin said, “I feel that the players who moved up all gave their best effort.”
Number one Ryan Esparza lost 8-1. Tinnin commented, “Esparza had some very strong serves, with several aces in his match.”
Behind Esparza was Page Wilkinson who was also defeated 8-1. Dustin Peters fared better, but still lost 8-5.
Makenzie McJunkins lost 8-3. Tinnin noted, “McJunkins moved her opponent around, with some nice placement of her shots.”
In the only victory on the day, Connor Zustiak won his match 8-4.
Lastly, Jake Steward lost an extremely close match, falling 9-8 in a tiebreaker. “Steward was neck in neck with his opponent, and had some very nice net play,” said Tinnin.
In doubles action, the team did much better. Esparza and Peters won 8-1. Wilkinson and McJunkins also won, 8-2. However, Zustiak and Steward were defeated 8-4.
Tinnin summed it up, and said, “We need to work on more consistency in our ground strokes, along with improving our approach shots and net play.”
The Tigers will have two days to regroup, as they take on Potosi on Thursday, April 1st.
