Starting the year with a 1-3 overall record, the Simpson women’s tennis team hopes to continue improving each match. 

“I feel like the season is going really well so far,” sophomore Emily King said. “We have already played better against teams we have struggled with in the past. Our doubles have been especially strong so far this season which says a lot about how well we work together as a team.”

Although the squad’s record doesn’t necessarily reflect improvement, the team is working hard to reach their goals.

“The team goals for the season is giving every match our all, working hard and having a great time,” junior Lorin Miller said.

King has been a standout performer so far. She’s 3-1 in singles matches and 3-0 in doubles with freshman Donni Kinghorn.

“I like to take one match at a time and try to stay in the moment. This is also where it is important to be ready to play different types of players,” King said. 

With King’s strong record, she has a set of goals of her own to continue the season strong.

“I hope to keep improving and changing up my game this year. It’s easy to get comfortable in a style of play and not be able to adjust to different opponents,” King said. “Being able to make changes during a match allows you to compete against all kinds of players. To achieve this, I just try to play as much tennis as I can with different types of players.”

Miller also wants to have a strong season and has set goals to continue helping the team grow over the season individually. 

“My personal goals for this year would be to work hard during practice and every match. I am working hard at practice and working on my weaknesses and we also do a lot of feels welcomed to the team,” Miller said. “I also want to be a good role model for the lower classmen and make them feel welcomed to the team.” 

One of the things the team will have to grow through is the youth of the team. Seven out of the nine players on the team are freshmen or sophomores.

A strength so far has been the doubles pairings.

“We have some really strong doubles pairings coming along that can only improve with more practice,” King said. 

Miller believes that this season has the potential to be great.

“I believe that this season has been one of our best since my freshman year at Simpson. I think this season has been strong because we all get along and we all work very hard,” Miller said. 

The Storm will be back on the courts for competition on Friday, Sept. 20, in St. Paul, Minn. at ITA Regionals.