The Herrin High School Girls Tennis team is officially back in season. They have been working hard nearly everyday this past summer. The team had their first match on Saturday, August 19th, against Floria, Benton, Marion, and Matoon. All of the girls were very nervous, but they were also very excited to finally get back out onto the courts. The girls had great supporters there to watch and cheer them on for their first match of the season. With a tough loss against three out of four of these teams, Herrin ended up in third place overall. Each of the 10 girls at the invite was in a singles or doubles bracket. Each player, whether in singles or doubles had to play four matches. 

Seniors Karli Mann and Jersey Summers ended up getting first in number one varsity doubles. Mann and Summers stated they “felt good about it, and that it was a good preview of what the season is going to look like.” In the number one varsity singles seat was Keirsten Killman (11) stating she “was nervous about it being the first match of the season, especially because those teams are some of the biggest competition [she would] see and play this season.” Killman also states that she “is most looking forward to improving her skills and hopefully winning more matches.” Bella Rachford (10) stated that she “thinks she did pretty decent overall,” in her first time playing varsity. She said that her current goal for the season is “improving her serve.” 

The team has had a lot of ups and downs over the past few years, but coach Matt Snell states, he “looks forward to seeing what’s to come of this season.” Snell also states he “is excited to see what this season holds because he has juniors and sophomores that have moved up in the lineup.” The girls have been working incredibly hard, and hopefully it will all pay off with many Tiger wins this season.