For the second straight day, the boy’s tennis team lost to Delran. Tuesday’s match was a 4-1 decision on the road, while today’s was a 5-0 loss at home.
The defeat puts the Pirates record at 2-5 on the season, which is closing in on the midway point.
Head coach Mike Fries liked his team’s efforts better today than on Monday, despite the difference in the final scores.
“We played a lot better today. Our singles players played phenomenal. Tim (Campbell) took his opponent to a third set in first singles and our third singles (Tyler Collins) took his opponent to three sets. The singles players played well. They played against older guys, which is great competition for the future. They are going to learn from it and move on.”
Next week, the Pirates will take on two very tough opponents in Florence and Holy Cross, but Fries believes that the high level of competition from the two back-to-back Delran games will help his players prepare for those games.
“I think it made the guys stronger. They learned from their mistakes and they saw how to play their opponent and how to possibly beat them and earn strokes on them. It was definitely a positive.
Fries also spoke to the weather hurting the Pirates schedule so far.
“If the weather had cooperated this year, we probably would have had five more matches in than where we are at right now. That would be a better way to tell, but I am with happy with how things are going. The singles players are playing great. They are getting great experience for the next few years since they are so young. The doubles players are still trying to find themselves, but they are working hard.”
As the season wears on, the tennis team will begin playing three or more games per week.
“I am excited for the boys for them to start playing more teams,” Fries said. “Instead of having one game or two games per week, it’s going to make them better and make the team stronger. We will see what happens. Playoffs open next Friday. So, we will see.”
The Pirates have one more game scheduled this week, on Friday, May 1 against Burlington City at 3:30pm at Wood Park.
