Hurley Qi ’22 

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The Strake Jesuit Varsity Tennis Team, battling hard against state -ranked teams, finished their fall season with four wins and three losses. 

After two months of rest, the team immediately went back to work to prepare for the fall season. Returning players received training from professional coaches at the summer camp and quickly adjusted to the schedule of after school practices. The SJ tennis team began to prepare their doubles and singles teams for the upcoming season. 

The Crusaders officially launched their fall season campaign with an astounding win of 6-5 and 8-3 against Clements High School and Clear Lake High School on August 20. The team then fought off Clear Lake High School again a week later winning 12 matches and losing 6. On September 1, the team defeated Bellaire High School 14-4. 

Conor Orchard ‘24, a rising player on the team, said, “My favorite match was probably the Memorial doubles match where Diego and I played the fourth seed and won.”

Unfortunately, the team then faced off against state-ranked opponents such as Memorial High School. While the players fought valiantly, the team lost the remaining three matches to Memorial, Shadow Creek, and Katy Tompkins. 

“It was a good precursor to the spring season. It showed how much we improved as a team over the season,” Conor Orchard ‘24 said. “We played really well and it was a lot of fun. I think we’re gonna get serious and do really well in the spring. ” 

With a lot of experiences under their belt, the team is training hard for the Spring season. Let’s go Crusaders!