The boys tennis team tested its abilities last week at the Sweet 16 Tournament on May 1 and 2. Throughout the event, the players faced different levels of competition and experienced both successes and faults.
The team took on multiple schools over the course of the two days, including difficult matches against University School of Milwaukee, Nicolet High School and Slinger High School. Homestead had placed ninth in the tournament.
Jackie Egelhoff, head coach, felt the matches included tough competition, but she knew her team would persevere, as she is confident in them.
“They have done a lot of improving… we [were] again hoping we just beat Nicolet, and that’s always one of our big rivals. So we were pleased about that, and the other one’s gonna be Whitefish Bay,” Egelhoff said.
Joshua Wirth, junior, who plays doubles, acknowledged that different levels of competition within the tournament affected how the teams played as harder competition motivated their team to do better.
“When we played our best competition, we played the best, and when we played the worst competition, we played worse,” Wirth said.
Oliver Getzel, senior, who plays doubles with his twin brother Gabriel Getzel, senior, expected the team to find success during the tournament. This season he is also hoping to enjoy the final stretch of his high school career as his time playing tennis for Homestead is coming to an end.
“My goal was just to have fun because it’s, like, the very end of tennis,” Getzel said.
Egelhoff also goes on to emphasize her team’s success and progression throughout the season as they are getting adjusted to new roles since losing seniors from last year’s graduating class. This has resulted in reconfiguring who plays doubles and singles.
“The returning players from last year have all had to move up a position because we lost our one singles and our one doubles to graduation. So the other guys are kind of getting used to their new positions… so they’re having to learn how to play together and learn the strategy of doubles… they have done a lot of improving, and we have done very, very well,” Egelhoff said.
