On February 14, 2020 the Buena Vista University (BVU) men’s tennis team started off their season traveling to Owatonna, Minnesota. They competed in a pair of non-conference matches going head to head against North Central and Northwestern-St. Paul. On Friday the men played against North Central where they balled out with a 9-0 finish. Saturday sadly struck against BVU with a 2-7 loss to Northwestern-St Paul. As the weekend played out, the Most Valuable Player for the weekend was senior John Foss. Foss continued to battle until the end, from smashing serves left and right, to smashes at the volley. In his singles match he finished with a 6-0, 6-0 win and during his doubles paired with Danny Kramer they  won with a 8-0 win ranked in the number one spot.  

Scores bouncing back and forth with the ultimate fight going down for the number 3 doubles team, Kris Mintle and Andrew Boell began their match by being down 0-5, soon feeling the heat and increasing their effort. They then won nine of the eleven games, pushing them to win 9-7. Coach Groen was proud to see the improvements his team has made over the last few weeks and the amount of effort they continue to show with the sport.  

Saturday against Northwestern, Danny Kramer showed a tremendous amount of passion as he performed nearly perfect with a 6-3, 7-5 mark in his singles. Kramer is just a sophomore but has shown a tremendous amount of improvement making him the number two player.  

Since the season is just beginning to get underway, the players are quickly learning what they need to work on in order to compete to their best ability.

“I really need to work on my back-hand volley and back hand ground strokes,” said Foss. As this improves, there is no doubt that Foss will be able to claim multiple victories.

Aaron Mumm, is a senior player seeded at the number four spot, with emphasis mainly on doubles play.

“I really need to work on my singles playing because I am more of a doubles player on the court.”

As the members of men’s tennis begin to find their strengths and weaknesses there is many things for them to look forward to.  

Over spring break the men and women’s team will be heading to Hilton Head, South Carolina. The trip is known as the favorite for many of the players on the team. “I’m most excited to get to play right on the beach and finally be in warm weather,” said Foss ecstatically.

The men will have had one more match at Cornell on February 22 and are then patiently waiting for Hilton Head. The men are predicted to be pretty strong this season and they continue to work on their forms and power. This past weekend overall was a successful weekend that made the team feel accomplished. Their ambition and persistence will take them far this season and push them to perform their heart out in South Carolina as well as matches in their normal spring season.