By David Kirvin.

With 21 wins for the varsity tennis team during the fall season from Midland Legacy with a score 16-3 to Lubbock Coronado 15-4. The tennis team is more than ready to win the district title at the district tournament on April 30 at Rose Park Tennis Center.

“It’s my senior year and so I got voted for team captain, so that’s a huge blessing,” senior Taylor Nevitt said. “I get to look over the team and make sure everyone’s okay.”

Nevitt believes that what makes a great team is to always have an amazing coach who she can trust and rely upon.

“I look for a coach that is willing to work with me, looks at my skills, and then learns how to improve them,” Nevitt said. “I like a coach that’s pretty diverse, he or she doesn’t really have just one strategy and finds more ways to play and finds a lot of strategies.”

Tennis is nothing new to senior Luke Padon who has tennis in his blood, going back to his mom playing tennis during her high school days at Cooper High School.

“My mom inspired me when she was a state player on her team at Cooper High and she has won state championships several times,” Padon said.

Padon has a love for tennis. He works and practices outside of school to be the best out on the courts.

“The mental game has been my biggest challenge for tennis and is a huge aspect besides any technical and physical skills,” Padon said. “I’ve attempted to overcome this by just playing a lot of matches and keeping myself accountable.”

It’s Padon’s last year. He has had lots of success throughout his four years of playing tennis with going to playoffs and great moments with his teammates.

“One thing I will never forget is my teammates, we all just have a really good chemistry, worked hard and had fun,” Padon said.

Senior Arabella Campo is no stranger when it comes to tennis. Both of her parents played tennis in their youth and a few family members as well.

“I was inspired by both of my parents with them both playing in college, and then my whole family just having tennis in all of their academic careers, so it kind of just came with it,” Campo said.

Even though there can be great success during tennis, Campo has also dealt with hard competition throughout her tennis career.

“In a losing game, I kind of just remember what I’ve been taught at previous camps with keeping my mind cool, staying calm and collected,” Campo said. “Making sure I don’t psych myself out and being able to just maintain my composure.”

What makes a great tennis player is having a great coach, who teaches the players values and discipline and that is how Campo likes it.  

“What I try to look for in a coach is that not only challenges me but also encourages me, they’ll give me feedback that hey, you need to work on this, give it to me straight instead of beating around the bush,” Campo said.

Change is something hard for Campo who is relearning and getting comfortable with her teammates playing by her side.

“I say the greatest challenge for me in tennis is spending time with one teammate and then hopping between other teammates,” Campo said.  “I play doubles and learn how to adapt to each other’s play styles and then capitalize on it.”

The tennis team has been to playoffs a few times and Campo is grateful she got to be a part of the tennis playoffs history.

“I’d say the greatest accomplishment was when we as a team were able to get to the first round of playoffs and able to pull that off a couple of matches against the number one in the state,” Camp said.

Campo has great memories with her teammates throughout her high school tennis career and never forgets the winning and weird moments.

“One moment I’ll never forget would definitely be when we were all at Roses Cafe,” Campo said. “We were all eating and one of my teammates let me slap him with a tortilla.”