When the boys tennis team takes the court tonight against Franklin in the county tournament, they will be looking not only at tonight’s results, but what it means for sectionals. The matches against Franklin tonight as well as Whiteland or Greenwood tomorrow will set the tone for the upcoming games.

“The county is important for us because we are in the process of getting a concrete lineup, and county will help solidify that,” junior Dhrumil Patel said. “Also, we will be playing these same teams during sectionals so it’s important to know where we stand and get a look into where we are as a team.”

The Trojans have yet to play Franklin this season, so players are expecting the match-up to be competitive.

“I think the key to winning tonight is going to be a lot of energy, not letting up and not letting them get back in it, and us staying positive because when you play a team that’s really consistent, it’s easy to get negative when you start missing,” senior Mason Runkle said.  “So I think just staying positive and [having] lots of energy to bring each other up.”

Franklin’s technical ability across the board has proven to be a strength for them in past seasons and will continue to make them solid competition.

“They’re all just really consistent players,” Runkle said. “They don’t miss a lot. They don’t hit it super hard, but they’ll just hit it back every time, so we just have to make sure we stay aggressive and come into the net when we can and try to end the point.”

Starting county with a win tonight will give the team momentum and confidence going into tomorrow’s championship match as well as sectionals.

“Some people think that it’s about the individual matches, but it’s really about playing for your school and your team in order to win,” Patel said.