VIDEO: Tennis Team Makes it Outside to Start Practice

The Big Blue boys’ tennis team had a short time to get ready for their first matches. Swampscott traveled to the Manchester Athletic Club to take on area teams in the Manchester-Essex Tennis Jamboree on Saturday.

Tennis coach Andrew Turchon begins his second year running the show for the Big Blue boys, and he welcomed nine players to practice this week.

“The numbers are small right now, but we’re hoping to add a few players from the middle school if we can get a waiver for them to play,” Turchon said after practice Tuesday.

“We’re excited, things are looking good, we’ve got some strong areas,” Turchon said. Senior captain Josh Lunder is returning, and we expect really big things from him this year.”

Turchon is looking to improve on last year’s team that went 12-6 overall, falling to Manchester-Essex 4-1 in the state tournament.

“Josh will be there and sophomorewill be at first singles, but there are still spots up in the air that we need to fill before the season starts,” Turchon said.

“The guys were a little rusty out there (Tuesday afternoon at the Middle School courts), but they were excited to get on the court and were competitive out there too.”

The team opened up practice for the 2011 tennis season last Monday afternoon in the gym.

Swampscott will got a look at Ipswich, Newburyport, Triton, Pentucket, and Hamilton-Wenham, as well as the hosts at the Jamboree Saturday.

The Net Men open the regular season on April 11, when they travel to Peabody to take on the Tanners. The Big Blue takes on rival Marblehead on the tennis courts at home on Monday, April 27, and they close the regular season against the Headers on Monday, May 23.

“The guys showed up in good shape to start the season, they’re committed to playing strong tennis.

The team will compete in the Northeastern Conference; last season the Blue compiled a 12-4 conference record.

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