Shaun Weiss’ twitter)

The Girls Tennis team practices for the county competition!

Tryouts for Girls Tennis has ended! Shaun Weiss, the coach for Girls Tennis, prepared for the upcoming season ahead as spring steadily approaches. With seven graduated and six girls returning, half of the team remains; however, Weiss is optimistic. Rebuilding with eight new players, Weiss believes the team is strong enough to challenge for the division title against their biggest rival, Middletown.

Weiss describes how he and the team prepare for a match: “Practices. Doing drills on what I think the girls are weak in, it might be serving one day.. It might be net shots one day, it might be just moving around the court one day.”

Josephine Sasse, a returning Junior on the team, emphasizes her reason as to why she plays tennis: “My entire family plays tennis basically, and it’s a really nice sport where you can bond with a whole bunch of people really easily.”

In the county tournament, Oakdale has tried to beat Middletown and Urbana every year. Hopefully, for this season, Oakdale’s new players will have a chance to show off their skills.

Weiss goes on to explain how the team is family first. “I like the comraderie of our team. I think our team is very tightly knit, we have three senior captains that are.. First of all, great people, but they’re good role models. And that’s what the rest of the team needs. They are constantly supporting everybody, giving them ideas, how to do things better, and sometimes when I’m not at practice right away, they start the drills before I even get out there.”

When asked if she is prepared for this season, Sasse was confident in her answer: “I am very prepared for this season, because me and my second doubles partner Allison.. We have a really strong connection, and we work really well as a team. Hopefully we’ll make it past the county tournament!”

Keep your fingers crossed for this upcoming Oakdale team, getting ready to take on Middletown.