After a long season of strenuous practices and a series of intense meets, the PHS varsity tennis team and their two alternate players make their way to the final state competition, taking place Sept. 25-27 in Gillette. 

Working hard to prepare for the state competition, little did the team know that the tournament was bound to be postponed due to weather. 

“This helped our team quite a bit,” Spanish teacher and Tennis Coach Mr. Brandon Preator said. “We had quite a few kids that were sick going up into that week right before state tennis so I wasn’t sure how they were going to perform.”

While they overcame this setback with positive mindsets they were ready to take on the courts. 

“I’ve been playing [tennis] since freshman year,” senior Keegan Hicswa said. “I’ve learned a lot of things and I’ve gotten better as a player and a person.”

At the beginning of the season the players battle it out to decipher their places on JV, Varsity, or to even discover their doubles partners; this is a humbling experience. 

“If you are able to make Varsity there’s different spots you can get, “ senior Maya Landwehr said. “The highest spot you can get is first doubles, and it goes all the way down into third doubles.”

While there are many sets of doubles at PHS we also have four Varsity singles, that are very talented in their craft.

“Playing singles is very mentally challenging,” senior Cade Queen said. “It is just you out there… so if you are struggling it is very hard and if you’re winning it is super fun.”

Queen eventually went on to get his All-State Honors for the second time playing singles at the Wyoming State tennis tournament. To achieve this is not an easy task, you must place top six out of very stiff competition. 

Also placing at the State Competition was pair Keegan Hicswa and Taeson Schultz. From the very beginning of the season being paired together, the pair worked in sync to challenge other doubles. Making them very deserving of their fourth-place finish at state. 

“The kids played some of the best tennis that I’ve seen them play all season,” coach Preator said. “We didn’t necessarily reach as high of a team performance as we would have liked, but the boys ended up seventh and the girls ended up twelfth.”

While the group of sixteen players went up against 4A schools, their placings were still very impressive.

With State now in the past, the team is gearing up for next year, and especially for their Spring Tennis season. This is particularly exciting for the very driven players who weren’t gifted the opportunity to make the trek to State. 

“You really just try to make contact with the strings of your racket and hope it goes over,” sophomore Isabelle Urbach said. “That’s how I started, and I’m eventually starting to get the hang of it.”