Tennis is in full swing and Dimond is dominating once again. With Rendell Burghart as the reigning boys state champion and Esther Glasionov and Annie Ingaldson as reigning state doubles champion, Dimond has a record of 7-6 for varsity. “The season is going really well,” said Dimond history teacher Lem Wheeles, the current JV coach. There are 42 members on the JV team and 60 overall, very good numbers for a tennis team, Wheeles said. The team isn’t successful by magic, however, but through the means of hard work and commitment. “Everyone is very committed and always shows up for practice,” Wheeles said. At practices the team does a variety of things, from mini matches to push ups. “A big thing is being able to move,” Wheeles said. This means the team does many agility drills like running and drills to help reflexes. Parents volunteer at practices with organizing drills and helping with mini matches, which is very helpful to the team, Wheeles said. The player’s performance during the mini matches determines who will play where during the next meet. As for the meets, “They’re really fun,” Savana Hartley, a sophomore, who has been playing tennis for two and a half years and is on JV, said. One of the things that makes the tennis experience even better is that the team does a team cheer before the meets and after them as well, she commented. “I like going to the meets and cheering on the team,” Isabel Mills said. Isabel has been playing tennis since the beginning of last year, when she started as a freshman, and hopes to continue doing tennis next year. There are different meets for varsity and JV, and whoever wins the most matches in the meets, wins. After getting on the bus the team heads toward where the meet is and then does the team cheer and their warm ups. During the meets there are official and unofficial matches. Eight official matches are played first for those who are more experienced and after those the unofficial matches are played. The unofficial matches are not as serious and the scores do not count toward who wins. However, it’s not just the playing part of tennis that the team’s members enjoy so much about this sport, “The tennis part is fun, but the team [the players] are really fun to be with,” Emily Klopfer said. Klopfer has been playing tennis for six years and has played with Dimond since she was a freshman. This year she is on varsity and was picked to be one of the team captains. Emily is not the only one who thinks the team members are one of the best parts about Dimond tennis. “I like interacting with friends and with people of different ages on the team,” Hartley said. It is clear that for the members tennis is more than just playing a game. They enjoy being able to interact with friends and have a blast playing the sport.