Tomorrow marks the start of the 2022 spring tennis season for the men’s and women’s teams at Asbury as they compete in their first invitational of the year.
As they prepare to compete, freshman Kaitlin Tackett, the newest addition to the varsity team, looks forward to the season.
“I think we’re ready,” Tackett said. “Practices have gone really well. We had a COVID incident, and we had to miss our second full second week of practice, but I think even with that, the team is super strong.”
Even with only a few weeks of practice under their belts after the break, the team remained optimistic. Tackett added that they have more time to prepare due to their more challenging matches being at the end of the season. She hopes “it’ll be like team bonding” to gain more experience initially.
The tennis team also recently eliminated its junior varsity team, impacting team dynamics. Tackett was the only one to move up and is working to adjust, as tennis is more of an individual sport. From her perspective, the most significant change has been on the coaches’ shoulders.
“I think it’s honestly just been a lot for the coaches to adjust to,” Tackett said. “I know that it’s definitely a lot more challenging on their part because they have to regulate all of the rules. I think as a team, it hasn’t impacted us a ton. I know that it changes our whole setup for other schools that we play.”
Nevertheless, Tackett is excited about the new season and the challenges it brings as they start it all off tomorrow at nine against Illinois Wesleyan.
