On Tuesday, the Coppell tennis team defeated Hebron in its District 6-6A match, 13-6. The win was expected, as Coppell has not lost to Hebron in recent years. 

“Since I have been head coach, Hebron has not yet beaten us,” Coppell coach Richard Foster said. “They’ve come close.” 

To earn the overall victory, Coppell needed to win 10 out of 19 matches. 

With Coppell having much confidence, many of the matches did not go into tiebreak, as Hebron was a competitor with which many Coppell players were familiar.

But due to very little practice over the long weekend, some players exhausted from the USTA (United States Tennis Association) Tournament and perhaps too much overconfidence with past victories, many Coppell players did not perform as they were expected to and had trouble in the beginning. 

At the beginning of the match, Hebron had the upper hand or were quickly able to catch up to Coppell, concerning Coppell players and Foster.

“I was nervous at the very beginning,” Foster said. “Hebron was up in almost everything early on.” 

However, many Coppell players bounced back, gaining the upper hand throughout the match. Many victories started rolling in as players started focusing more, and as many players cheered for their teammates on the sidelines. 

While Coppell was winning matches, players such as CHS junior Kunal Seetha were not satisfied with how they performed during the duration of the match. Seetha won his match, 7-6, 6-2.

“I didn’t keep my head up throughout the match,” Seetha said. “I was getting lazy and I don’t think I respected the opponent much. I let it get too close.” 

With Coppell previously defeating Plano West and Southlake Carroll, two competitors it has struggled with defeating in the past, the team was overconfident when it came to playing Hebron. 

“Hebron is a team, although they are much better this year, that we have beaten the last several years and I just don’t think our kids, I guess that’s on me, were mentally up for it as they should’ve been,” Foster said.  

While there were many let-downs when it came to the matches, some players such as CHS senior Rifhat Sindhi tried to implement effective strategies to beat an intense competitor. 

“We were really aggressive which helps in tennis,” Sindhi said. “They were lobbying a lot so we mainly tried to keep the ball in play.”  

Coppell won eight out of the 10 singles matches, four out of the six doubles matches but lost their mixed doubles match. 

While the match was an overall victory, Foster wants his players to get into the right mindset when playing against various opponents. 

“Today we came in a little overconfident,” Foster said. “But I want us to play with confidence; I want the kids to understand how good they are, but I also want them to understand that they got to get up for every match regardless of how good they are.” 

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