The Mingus Union High School boys tennis match against the Flagstaff Eagles on Thursday, March 26, came down to a tie-breaker singles match.
With a final score of 10-8, MUHS sophomore Julian Chavez-Smart, the No. 3 player, said he felt like he let down his team.
“No, you didn’t,” junior Eamon Hughes told him.
Chavez-Smart’s match was the only one that went to a tie-breaker. The match ended 5-4, with Flagstaff ahead.
Junior Adam Larson said his teammates supporting each other is a constant.
“They’re always very encouraging of everyone,” he said. “Just great.”
The team plays year round, practicing whenever they can, barring the players’ commitments to other sports as well.
“We do summer work and then off season work as well,” Head Coach Conrad Khin said. “And I think it’s really starting to pay off. It’s nice to have a group of kids that are also really motivated.”
Khin has been coach for five years. While there are no seniors on the team this year, he’s been working with this group of athletes since they got to high school.
Chavez-Smart said he played his best, better than previous years, and he’s been playing for about five years.
“I think I can definitely win that next time,” he said.
Juniors Will Sanderson and Larson, the No. 1 and No. 2 players respectively, said, while they could have played better, they performed all right.
“I’m playing with new rackets,” Sanderson said. “So the tension was off for my ability, so it felt a lot different.”
Sanderson played basketball and soccer briefly, but wants to stick with tennis in the long run.
“I played a lot of pickleball with my grandfather when I was younger,” he said. “He kind of taught me from the age of 8, so that, I think, got me to think about playing tennis.”
While playing with his grandfather, he’d often bring along his friends, including Hughes, the No. 4 player.
“That kind of turned us into wanting to play on the tennis team,” Hughes said. “And then we started freshman year, and then sophomore year, Adam joined, the No. 2, and we just have been growing it out the last two years.”
Doubles
Chavez-Smart and Hughes won their doubles match 8-4. Sanderson and Larson lost 8-0.
“I think singles is better for me, wanting to open up and hit the ball,” Hughes said. “But doubles is fun with the team, and you’re able toget up closer to the net. You wouldn’t really do that too much in the singles.”
Sanderson said, while he normally plays better in singles, doubles are more fun.
“I’m more relaxed playing it, and the team element is always helpful, too,” he said.
Larson said the individual aspect of tennis made him choose it over his other sport, basketball, even though the singles can make it more stressful.
“I was getting kind of hard on myself today, because I know I can make the shots that I didn’t make,” he said.
While the loss means the likelihood of the team making it to finals with a doubles pairing is slim, individual players may still make it. Larson made it to state last year and is hoping to recreate that this year, he said.
Home Game Schedule
All home games start at 3:30 p.m.
- Thursday, April 2, vs Cactus Shadows Falcons
- Tuesday, April 7, vs Horizon Huskies
- Thursday, April 16, vs Bradshaw Mountain Bears
- Tuesday, April 21, vs Deer Valley Skyhawks