The Bishop Blanchet JV Tennis team started of the first week of the season a little slowly, with a defeat against Ballard at Ballard High School and another defeat against Lakeside at Bitterlake Tennis Courts.

On Monday, March 16th, JV tennis battled it out against the Ballard Beavers. At each competition there are 5 games played, two singles and three doubles. It was a hard fought match, but the Beavers won the competition 3 games to 2.

Although the team as a whole recorded a loss, there were some individual victories. Caleb Park won a singles match with an impressive performance.

“Caleb played well throughout the match and really kept a positive and focused mindset,” said coach Tom Suarez. “Caleb was strong from the baseline and moved smoothly to the net.”

Senior Jack Heffernan and freshman Connor Stockamp accrued the team’s second victory in a doubles match. Both players reported in interviews that they felt great about the match, and were happy with their performances.

“I felt like I played a solid match and was striking my overheads well,” said Stockhamp.

The Braves transitioned from their competition against Ballard on the Monday to play Lakeside a few days later on Friday. Blanchet was simply outmatched against the Lions, losing 5 games to 0. However, not all the games were too out of reach.

“A lot of the games were close,” said Jack Heffernan. “Like 30-40 or 40-40 but we just missed the shots we needed to hit in the end.”

Heffernan went on to mention how there were some questionable calls by the line judges. Many calls the Braves believed were in were called out and vice versa. However, the team acknowledged that it’s part of the game and they just need to be better prepared next time. Caleb Park puts emphasis on communication and chemistry for the future.  

“Communication is key,” said Park in an interview. “As well as good chemistry. Without those two, it will be a hard match for both players.”

The Braves look onward to hopefully turn around a rough start so far.