Boys tennis falls to Skippers 2-5

The Hopkins boys tennis team just finished a big match versus the Minnetonka Skippers at Minnetonka High School.

The Skippers have a very talented tennis team. They are currently back to back state champions with lots of talent this year again. Players on the Skippers team such as Ben Weaton, senior, and Kevin Thomas, freshman, were looking to take down the Royals.

The Royals had to go into the mindset of a focused mentality to finally to take down the Skippers.

“We had to have a very determined mindset going into the match because Minnetonka is a top team in the state. We knew what we had to do by staying focused, keep the ball in, adjust our game to how our opponents were playing,” said Ari Segal, sophomore.

The Royals have been a solid team through the years but struggle within the Lake Conference. Edina and Minnetonka especially are very tough because they have been state title contenders for many years.

Each player on the team must prepare for their individual match up which can be challenging. Some players know their opponent and can prepare for their matchup by adjusting their game in order to beat their opponent’s game.

“Before that match I watched some pro athlete highlights to see what I could incorporate into my game. I knew how to play against my opponent a little bit, but I struggled to adjust my game to to beat him because of the weather,” said Felix Johnson, junior.

The Royals ended up losing to the Skippers 5-2. Segal and Mattison were the number three and four singles players for the Royals that were able to pull through.

The Royals in the past two years were able to win one match combined against the Skippers. Although they lost, this year they were able to prepare and demonstrate determination to get some wins against the Skippers.

The Royals will continue to work on persevering through different teams especially the Lake conference matches to ultimately try to win their sections tournament.

“I will focus really hard during practice to improve my weak aspects of my game. I will mostly try to work on my backhands along with my returns off of the serve. For the lake conference games I will try to be consistent against those players because they have more skill and can keep the ball in more often,” Segal said.