Young team works hard on the court

Green River High School’s tennis team is hitting the courts hard this season and racking up a few impressive showings along the way.

During the last week, the team lost only one match in its road trips to Rock Springs and Rawlins, with its previous week of competition almost faring as well with the team dropping one match against Rock Springs and three against Natrona County.

For head coach Phil Harder, the main goal right now is for the team to stand out at regionals Sept. 14 and 15 at Cheyenne South High School.

Harder said regionals will determine the seeding for state tournament in Gillette the following weekend. Harder believes a few players will perform well at Cheyenne South, but thinks the whole team is ready to make a name for itself.

“Anyone can have a good run at regionals,” Harder said.

The team is young and continues to grow, with 50 total members and a lot of competition for the varsity slots.

Harder credits the team’s junior varsity program with a lot of its success, saying it has a critical role within the whole program. He also said summer clinics hosted by the team have also helped improve the program as well.

Having practiced since Aug. 7, Harder said the schedule has helped the team greatly and has given them time to ramp up the level of intensity and have the players focus on their specialties. Harder said a split practice schedule had helped as well.

“The split practices lets us get a lot of stuff done,” Harder said.

Overall, Harder and his team are enjoying the tennis season and looks forward to see how well the tennis players perform at regionals and the state tournament.