Erie boys tennis has only been competing a month into the fall season, but if its early record is any indication, the Tigers will be a team to watch out for when regional tournament time rolls around.
Leading up to their rainy home match against Silver Creek on Tuesday, the Tigers boasted a 6-1 team record, having only lost to Fort Collins in another dual where weather played a factor. A change in coaches has them approaching the game differently, and the impact is obvious.
“Coach Bob (Olson) really runs this program his way,” senior No. 2 singles man David McCool said. “It’s awesome. It’s warming up. It’s getting stuff done. It’s picking up the balls. It’s not goofing off when you’re meant to be doing anything else. He really keeps us in line in more of a fatherly way than a yelling kind of way.”
McCool, who entered Tuesday’s contest with a 6-3 record in his primary line, added that a talented freshman class is bolstering this year’s squad. He spent much of his offseason making his own improvements, and he’s already seen it pay off.
“Honestly, I’ve got a really good serve,” McCool said. “I’ve started hitting the ball a lot harder than I did last year, and I think it does show. I’ve stood my ground against some pretty good opponents, Fort Collins namely, and it’s been a lot of fun. About every day during summer, I’d go up and hit a few buckets of serves at my neighborhood courts, and I’d always try to hit with some friends.”
He and his fellow senior, No. 1 singles man Ian McGuire, have taken it upon themselves to get the younger players up to varsity speed. They said that they do everything with intent at practices now, which is a change from past seasons.
“I think the development piece is kind of unique to Erie, because it’s rare that we get someone who’s just ridiculous at tennis as a freshman,” McGuire said. “That doesn’t really happen, (where) at Denver schools or private schools, you’ll get more of that. I think we’ve always had a solid track record of developing players. Our freshman year, David was playing 4 doubles, and I was playing 3 doubles, and now we’re playing 1 and 2 singles and having successful seasons.”
They’re not the only ones.
The Raptors entered the competition with their own undefeated, 4-0 record, and have relied on a junior-heavy lineup and their own new head coach, MJ Sayyers, to carry them forward.
“I feel it’s just consistency and practicing, not just in the season but in the offseason as well,” junior 2 singles man Miles Lacis said. “It was more our coach last season (Sara Whiteley) who told us all to practice a lot, and it’s definitely shown by our varsity doing pretty well this year.”
Lacis held the only personal undefeated record heading into Tuesday, but that hasn’t come without a bit of excitement. His toughest match came at the Longmont Invite three weeks back, when he lost a tight 7-5 first set, then bounced back to win the last two by scores of 6-1 and 6-2.
He believes the Raptors are more locked in this year, especially after losing just one senior, and that their ceiling, much like Erie, is high. He knows that despite his early success, there’s still work to be done.
“I haven’t really had any big challenge,” Lacis said. “Windsor was the most challenging for me, but I do believe that having an undefeated record is pretty nice. I feel like it’s probably my forehand and my serve, mainly, that win me a lot of points, but I do still need to work on my net game and my overall tennis game.”