FC Tennis Team Prepares to Hit the Courts

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(Photo courtesy of fallschurchsports.org)

Ryan Haynes, Managing Editor

The tennis team here at Falls Church may not have a hype squad full of loud students at every home game, however there are plenty of high spirits within the team itself. There are two individual teams, six on the boys team and six on the girls team. Both teams are led by coach Robert Lukacevic. The boys team is back with almost the same roster as last year; the only senior they lost was foreign exchange student from Chile, Luis Lozano. However this year, senior Peter Tran, will lead the boys squad, while his sister, sophomore Sabrina Tran, and junior Rohani Patel will help the girls team. Coming off of a 6-12 record last year for the boys and a 5-9 record for the girls, both teams are looking to stay competitive in the conference again this year.

Because tennis matches are not often attended by the students, the scoring of the games is unfamiliar to many people. Each meeting against another school consists of six single matches and three double matches. Each single match is won by the first player to win 10 games. The player that is first to ten wins in each single match gets one point for their school. Double games are won by the first pair to eight points. Whichever pair gets to eight points first gives one point to their school. There are nine possible points in total.

At the end of the regular season, conferences are held in which the top two singles and double pairs go and compete against other schools in Conference 13. Falls Church’s biggest competition will be Yorktown and TJ. However the team is ready for the competition, as sophomore Quinn Baily said: “Tennis is a great sport because you get to know people and play against challenging opponents.”