Senior Andy Doan is looked to as a leader on the Akins tennis team, Doan does his best to help any of his fellow teammates better their skills in the game.

“Whenever it comes down to it, he’s ready to go through the same motion with you over and over again and make sure you really understand it and fully grasp the technique that is necessary to excel.” Said senior Samuel Kopp.

Now, in his senior year, he has collected a great amount of knowledge, such as new moves, and has a better understanding of the game.

“I learned how there’s… Different angles,…your foot has to be pointing towards [and] a certain distance away from the net in order to clear a ball, like how high goes over the net,” he said.

With the fall season behind him, Doan reflected on the highs and lows with his eyes set on finishing strong during the spring season.

“I’m personally kind of disappointed because we didn’t do as good as I was hoping,” Doan said. “We got, I believe, fifth in the district, but I believe we could have got  top four.”

Now that most of the team is made up of seniors, they have more outside responsibilities that make it di cult to focus on tennis.

Doan explained how he split his time between homework and tennis, that he would have to dedicate certain days for just tennis and would stay up late finishing homework. As a result, Doan couldn’t put as much time into his season as he would’ve liked.

“You just have a lot of the stress that just takes time off of tennis and more towards school,” Doan said.

The upcoming spring season will be the last for a majority of the tennis team, Doan said this will be a major motivator for spring.

“We definitely are picking up this season. I believe the fall season was more like a test season to see how we are,” he said. “Because a majority of the tennis team is comprised of seniors. And we’re like, this is our last year and you’re making the best one.”

Doan is seen as a role model with the underclassmen.

“I really looked at him and tried to learn something, like to concrete on my game as much as possible. So I can reach his level one day.” Underclassmen Yarin Polyakob commented.

Doan said he has a lot of faith in the underclassmen players who are coming up to be leaders in the future. Specifically pointing out sophomores Jacques Carandang and Yarin Polyakob.