Hastings Tigers Boys Take on State Tennis

On October 13, 2022, the Hastings Tigers boys tennis team competed in state tennis at the Woods Tennis Center.

Located in Lincoln, NE, the Woods Tennis Center hosted the Class B State Tennis. There were 27 total attending teams. Thus, the Tigers tennis varsity boys faced many fierce competitors.

“I personally enjoy really good and competitive teams because you can see how they play and learn from them, such as their techniques,” Senior Jackson Graves said.

As a result, the Hastings varsity tennis boys did lose some of their matches. However, this did not discourage the tennis players from the rest of their other upcoming matches. The tennis players were able to adapt to different levels of competition throughout the day.

“When playing well-matched teams, I usually handle them by playing my game and keeping my head in the game,” Junior Benjamin Hafer said, “This season had a lot of ups and downs, but it was very fun though.”

As a result, the Hastings tennis varsity boys as a whole team scored 2 points for the boys state tournament. Even though the boys encountered strong competition, all the players put in their best effort in each match.

“State went as expected in my opinion. I know that we had two matches that went to 3rd set tie breaks and we couldn’t pull them out. It’s frustrating, but also a great learning experience because many of my players have not been in these high pressure situations before. It’s a chance where they can learn and be better next time. We are still learning to do the little things right to create results and that just didn’t happen during our first round matches. I believe it was great for the boys to see top-level competition to have the desire to get better this off season,” Coach Mark Gueswell said.

The tennis boys as well as their coaches had many great memories together this season even though they had to experience and compete in pressured matches. 

“During state, we went to the most difficult mini-golf course and we all had a blast with it. It was a memory that the boys will never forget. I also will remember many of the bus rides because that’s where a lot of the fun happened,” Gueswell stated.