Covenant mens and womens tennis season is underway as of Friday, February 2. In their first matches of the season, the mens team defeated Transylvania 6-3. According to the CCS preseason polls, the mens team is expected to stay in the top seed, and the Lady Scots are currently projected to finish second.
Scots tennis is highly competitive. “The team’s core values are grit, perseverance, problem-solving, honoring God, and competing for each other,” sophomore Jackson Nance said.
Senior Solomon Crouch echoed the value of grit, and added that “playing like this is your first time your opponent has played against someone who is a follower of the Lord” is another deep value of the team.
Senior Gill Dunn. Photo courtesy of Covenant College Athletics.
Crouch and Nance were both drawn to Covenant tennis because of Coach John Hirte, who is in his 11th year as the head of the tennis program. “The way he ran the program really made it feel like I was joining a family rather than a team,” Crouch said.
Nance said, “What drew me to Covenant Tennis was the fact that I could play the sport I love on top of a mountain with a group of guys united in a goal to pursue excellence and success in tennis, all while making Christ preeminent.”
Crouch said that the best part about being a member of the mens tennis program is how hard they work together. “This is a group of guys that are hungry to win and hungry to get better,” Crouch said. “Each and every one of my teammates are hard working and always want to get better any way they can.”
Both Nance and Crouch look forward to traveling with the team this season. “My favorite thing about being on the team is all the traveling we get to do, from places like Orlando, Florida to San Antonio, Texas,” Nance said. Crouch said that he enjoys traveling with the team because of the long lasting memories he has made with them.
As with any sport, the tennis team has had its fair share of obstacles, both personally and as a team. “Some obstacles the team have faced since I’ve been a part of the team are dealing with the stress and balance of tennis, academics and social life,” Nance said. “It’s good to have big goals on the court, but at the same time realizing that our schoolwork and social life have lots of importance.”
Crouch listed the road back to the NCAA National Championship tournament as a goal of the team but that they struggled to succeed before the 2022 season. Nance is also hungry for another shot at the tournament this season. “I am most looking forward to helping this team repeat as CCS Conference Champions and potentially making a deeper run at the NCAA tournament,” Nance said.
Overall, the tennis program has been one of the most successful teams of Covenant Athletics for the past couple of years. They would love the support at home matches that other sports are shown. “I would just encourage the Covenant community, both current students and alums, to support us as much as they can,” Nance said. “We’re a pretty stellar program, and we enjoy the crowd support.”