The boys tennis team is a team that isn’t really talked about much at Latrobe. The team is known for being on the smaller size with not a lot of boys to fill the spots. This season however, the team had a good amount of brand new players excited to join the team and learn to play. In fact, almost half of the team is completely new to tennis and have not had experience playing in the past. That didn’t stop the newer players from learning the game and growing exponentially when it comes to the game. 

Gabe Golden and Koen Fulton, both new players who played a doubles game against two experienced Norwin players. Their match lasted over three hours, and their game eventually became the deciding match between the schools. After the other matches wrapped up, the whole team came to cheer for the two. Gabe and Koen eventually came out on top after an incredible comeback, and the team was ecstatic.

“The new players too have surprised me at times, with our second doubles consisting of Gabe and Koen. They have clinched three matches for us to win 3-2, and that is something you just don’t expect out of two players playing their first year!” said Chad Kissell, coach of the boys and girls tennis team.

Star players like Dom Robinson and August Lawrence are incredible players that the newer members of the team can always count on to look up to. Dom manages to balance his tennis playing along with holding his position as valedictorian, which is extremely impressive. He has managed to win almost every game he has played so far, and even managed to win one out of two of his matches at singles WPIALS. 

“The team has performed extremely well going 4-2, with Dom and August being the experienced players who have been playing for a while now. They are always able to take care of business and get the wins we need,” said Kissell.

The team wouldn’t be where it is today without the incredible guidance from coach Chad Kissell, a professional D1 tennis player who was also the coach who managed to get the girls team to place second at states. Thanks to his and coach Kim’s amazing coaching, the team has vastly improved and was even able to qualify for team WPIALS, placing third in the section against all odds.

“Overall it has been a great year of coaching, having a fun group of guys that worked hard and enjoyed playing tennis really made my job easy,” said Coach Kissell.