The Simpson men’s tennis team finally has a full roster for the first time in a year after a successful recruitment brought in three new players.

The team brought on two new first years, in addition to a returning sophomore who is making his return after a year off to focus on academics. Head Coach Matt Price is entering his ninth season as the coach of the tennis team and has led the Storm to one conference tournament. Returning to the tournament is one of his main goals for the season.

“The biggest goal is that we want to make the conference tournament which is finishing in the top six in the conference, and to do that our goal is to improve,” Coach Price said.

The team has three team captains this year; senior Drake Downard, junior Grant Love, and junior Javi Robles. The three come together to make up the top three players on the team. They were all on the roster last year and performed admirably with Love leading the team with a record of 8-7 on the season and partnering with Robles in doubles going 4-8.

“We’ve got a young team still, we’ve got one senior and he’s a great leader but the rest are underclassmen,” Coach Price said. “We have three captains this year and in fact they’ve done an excellent job. They’re being leaders, mentors and role models for these new guys.”

The Storm are currently on the way to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Tournament, a tournament that brings teams from across the Midwest together to compete. The tournament is hosted by Gustavus Adolphus in Saint Peter, MN. Robles talked about some of his personal goals for the tournament and the rest of his season.

“Getting to play in more matches that we can with the level of competition being so huge and trying to get the best experience,” Robles said. “Then moving forward into the spring season, the main team goal is to make the conference tournament after many years without making it.”

In addition to Robles, the team is taking four other members up to the tournament to compete.

“This tournament gives Simpson the opportunity to show how much our team has improved this year and show off what our new members can do,” sophomore Carter Hexamer said.

The tennis team is done for the semester after the ITA Tournament, but will return to the court in the spring as Coach Price and the Storm look to get back to the American Rivers Conference tournament for the first time since the 2020-21 season.