The Lakeland Tennis team competed in their first matches on Wednesday, March 13, at Post Falls High School.
There were numerous doubles teams that did terrific in their matches, along with individuals. These include senior Ben Ryan and sophomore Brock Raebel, who won their singles matches in 2-straight sets for the boys, along with Charlotte Wiebach and freshman Jenna Olsen for the girls.
Senior Wiebach won her match (6-2, 6-1) and might have had a more exciting experience than others. Wiebach is an exchange student from Germany who has played tennis for six and a half years. In Germany, students do not have the incredible opportunity to partake in school sports. She loves having the chance to partake in tennis with people that she sees every day and feels there is a much closer connection when your teammates are also classmates.
“I was really nervous, but once I stepped on the court, the nervousness went away, and I enjoyed it,” Wiebach said.
Although Wiebach knows the game of tennis well, she adds that she needs to be more consistent with her serves because sometimes her nerves take over.
“There are always little things I can be better about, so I’m hoping my coaches can help me with that,” Wiebach said.
From a coaching perspective, the games went very well, and everyone could play through various mistakes as their matches went on.
“Our players were able to hit their groundstrokes well,” Coach William Ryan said. “Our serving needs to be improved, and it is something we will practice a lot in the next couple of weeks.
It was nice to have weather that allowed us to get the matches in.”
The Hawks retake the court on March 19 at Coeur d’Alene High School at 3 p.m. away.
