By Riley Holder
Review Special Writer???
While football may be king in Lake Orion when it comes to sports, that doesn’t exactly mean that other sports aren’t important and can’t also catch a little spotlight.
Although it’s not exactly the team’s goal this season, the Lake Orion boys varsity tennis team would love nothing more than to get some attention.
?????’As far as expectations for the team this season, head coach Eric Bracciano is setting the bar high.
??????’I expect us to finish towards the top of the league this year. I think Clarkston is going to be our toughest opponent in the league, but hopefully we can do pretty well there. We have a Troy Athens tournament where we’d definitely like to finish in top three,? Bracciano said.
The Dragon tennis squad is doing well in tournament play, having won two tournaments so far. The group has a 1-3 record in league play. Their lone league victory came against a tough Stoney Creek team.
The two tournament wins, include a recent event in Romeo. The team won every match they played at the tournament in order to capture first place.
??’Team members know that one victory and two tournament wins aren’t going to single handedly put tennis on the map in Lake Orion, however they think that they are definitely headed in a positive direction.
‘Tennis really isn’t one of those mainstream sports. It’s not on the level of football, hockey, or basketball. It’s not going to be unless people start taking an interest in it. Hopefully the team getting [positive] results will change that,? Kyle Turk, a junior on this year’s team, said.
????’The team has been progressing the past couple years, so it would be awesome to see more popularity towards tennis,? senior captain Palmer Hatch said.
???’Many of the players voiced their thoughts about how they would love to get more people in the stands for their home matches. There is no admission fee for home matches at Lake Orion.
???’We really want to bring a crowd. We try to attract people to come and watch our matches because we want to show that tennis actually is a pretty fun sport to watch, and we’re definitely going to try to do that this year,? senior Top Pradithavanij said.
??????’Getting people to come to matches would be great but the team is more focused on the most important thing ? winning.