“Twenty four on 3, Mashiach on 6,” junior and tennis captain Evan Klepper said to the varsity boys tennis team before their match against the Washington International School (WIS) on Monday April 15. This has been the team chant for much of the season and the Lions hoped it would help propel them to a high position in the standings. The Lions lost 5-0 on Monday to WIS in a rematch of their first match of the season where they also lost 5-0. This was the third match they lost this season.
Although the score remained the same in this match as in their first game against WIS, the Lions were able to come closer in each of the matches than previously. Freshman Ryan Klepper and Evan both lost their matches, but even after that, the team had a chance to win the overall match if all three of the other matches were won. Junior Yedidya Milner-Gillers and sophomore Josh Dori were down six games to two in their match, but came back to get up eight games to seven. They were unable to hold on to this lead and lost in their tiebreaker. Sophomore Coby Schalctus lost his singles match by two points.
“Both of us [me and my competitor] were really just trying to stay in it and keep doing our best,” Schlactus said. “But I think he really just kept on going, which kind of surprised me and he eventually won…but it was a great match [I] really enjoyed it.”
WIS has been the Lions’ main competition thus far in the season and the team was hoping to gain some confidence from the previous match. Under CESJDS head varsity boys tennis coach Alexander Kirsch, the Lions are currently third in the conference standings and hope to improve by the end of the season to bring home a boys varsity tennis championship banner, which has not been won since 2011.
They have many traditions to keep themselves upbeat even during difficult parts of the season. They have weekly matches against each other within the team and different members from the team award give donuts to the winners.
“I think it’s good that everybody is able to compete against each other,” Kirsch said, “But I think [with] these bigger teams it’s kind of an eye opener. We need to not just beat each player, we need to raise our level to play against our opponents.”
During this match it was hard for the team to stay motivated in the heat according to Schlactus. The team does not have a lot of attendance at their matches so they try to find ways to keep themselves motivated any way they can. It can also be especially hard for the newer players on the team who don’t have experience in this type of environment
“I would just say just for future reference, just to get fans out to these matches, because when you have those close calls, and players are going back and forth, having a crowd’s support does make a big difference,” Kirsch said. “It can actually just encourage the players just to keep going and I think that a lot of our players have fatigue at the end of the matches, just kind of cheering them on.”
