Coach Kable Walton says his Trinity Lutheran tennis players need to get off to better starts in future matches than what they did during Tuesday’s home match against Clarksville.
“We got off to a slow start in both of our doubles positions,” Walton said following the 4-1 loss.
All three singles matches finished in a light rain.
“In one doubles we got caught up,” Walton said. “We had a lot of deuce games in one doubles. It was a little closer than the score may have indicated.”
Cameron Gruenwald and Evan Hunt lost 6-1, 6-1 to Jalen Reyer and Elijah Bowell at No. 1 doubles, and Nathan Finke and Will Gausman lost 6-0, 6-1 to Aidan Craig and Terry Morgen at No. 2 doubles.
Nathan Voelker claimed Trinity’s only win, 6-0, 6-4 over Pau Martinez at No. 3 singles.
Voelker said, “I got off to a good start, and then the rain in the ground got to me a little bit in the second set. The rain made it pretty slick and since the ground was already wet it didn’t soak in very deep.
“I felt like my serves were really good. I hit top-spin on my serve. My groundstrokes were OK. I’ve had a lot better. I had trouble when he would serve, because he served it so low and I couldn’t get under it.”
Voelker is 2-0 at No. 3 singles.
“I need to keep working on ground strokes and volleys as well,” he said. “My backhand is a lot better than it was last year.”
Trinity’s Ryan Kleman lost 6-3, 6-3 to Ethan Neal at No. 1 singles, and Solomon Hall fell 6-4, 6-1 to Saul Tatum at No. 2 singles.
“I’m very pleased with the first sets of the singles,” Walton said. “I think two could have done better in his second set.
“Our serving was about normal. It wasn’t super great. Some of our players served better. Consistency, especially one and two singles, needs to be better, first-serve percentage for sure.
Walton said everyone has things to work on, and the Cougars want to come out strong on Thursday when they play at Waldron.
“We’ve got to be focused from the first ball to the last ball,” Walton said.
Trinity, and Seymour, will play in the Silver Creek Invitational Saturday starting at 9:30 a.m.