Humid spring weather and the hot sun beams on the court as the first serve of the season for the Jaguars tennis team goes up. The sound of rackets colliding with tennis balls echoes throughout the court until the ball finally drops, scoring the Jaguars their first point of the season. 

The Jaguar tennis team competes in several weekly matches against local schools from throughout South Florida. Their season starts in early February with their first match against the Blanch Ely Tigers; the Jaguar tennis team’s season has been well underway.

The Jaguars are mainly focusing on their footwork, consistency, and match strategies. Players have been finding new ways to sharpen their game to attempt to come back stronger. 

“My game isn’t where I want it to be, but it’s getting there. I’ve just been focusing on becoming a stronger all-around player. I worked especially hard on improving my backhand, and it is considerably better, as well as working on my stamina and overall health and endurance,” notes junior team captain, Wesley Jones.

While players are improving their game individually, they’ve also worked on making improvements as a team. With the desire to win eating at each and every athlete, the Jaguars have taken their game to the next level in comparison to last season.

Sophomore Samhita Palle comments, “This season, I feel like our team has made significant improvement overall. Compared to last year, we’ve stepped up our level of play and become much more competitive in our matches.”

However, to many athletes, one of the most important aspects of the team is family and team chemistry. With unity becoming stronger match after match, many players feel like they’ve built a strong sense of community and even a second family.

“This season differs from the last because I feel like we’ve improved in a team-bonding aspect. Us becoming closer as a team throughout the season is definitely one of our biggest strengths, allowing us to have a strong sense of family,” says sophomore, Yogitha Adusumilli.

The Jaguars are going into this season with high hopes and expectations, mainly focusing on improvement. Jones has high hopes of the team making it to regionals this year after their season ended in districts last season.

“I would love to see my team go to regionals this year. We got stopped at districts last season, but we have improved a lot throughout practice and offseason training, and I think a district title is possible this season.”