The Friday Harbor High School boy’s tennis team wrapped up their season last week with a growing team and hopes for more court time next year. With their first full season in the past four years under their belt, Head Coach Kyle Loring is looking forward to more players, more matches and more tournaments next year now that his team has more experience.

“The size of the team has grown quite a bit this year,” said Loring. “So we hope to earn a full slate of matches next year.”

With such a new team including many players who were completely new to the game, the team practiced hard and focused on the basics of tennis while gaining valuable experience in matches against other schools.

On Oct. 10, the team lost to Coupeville and then they suffered another loss to Orcas Christian on Oct. 23, after having to reschedule multiple times due to bad weather.

“Although the matches have been tough, the players have maintained their positive attitudes and continued to work on gaining the consistency needed to stay on the court with other schools,” said Loring.

On Oct. 19, the team’s number one doubles pair, Jonah Strasbourger and Sander VanHammersfeld, traveled to Redmond for the league tournament.

“[Strasbourger and VanHammersfeld] fought valiantly but fell to a doubles team from Eastside Prep,” said Loring.

“I hope to take more of the team to tournaments next year,” said Loring, “as we gather experience and start to include a few players with multiple years of experience.”

The rain has also affected the team this year, causing the rescheduling of matches and forcing practices to be moved off the court.

“On those days, when the outdoor courts become too slippery and tennis balls too waterlogged, we usually hit the track for a few laps and find indoor space to practice drills that improve hand-eye coordination,” said Loring.

Looking forward to next year, Loring is hopeful that most of the team will return.

“My primary goal is to return all of the students who played this year,” said Loring. “They continue to improve and I can’t wait to see what some of them accomplish with another year under their belt.”