With most of the varsity tennis players returning, girls tennis looks to continue their hard work and compete against top teams in the coming season.

Westside returns seniors Lizzie Harwood and Hannah Peters, juniors Ashley Tyler, Cassidy Morse and Erin Kruger and sophomore Ellie Sadler.

The girls have been preparing for the upcoming season with after school conditioning, which included running along with arm, stomach and leg workouts.

Captain Lizzie Harwood is considered the leader this year to encourage each player to play their best, each and every match.

“This season we want to have a lot of fun and focus on each match at a time and do our best,” Harwood said.

One of the biggest additions to the team was the new ball machine attained by a fundraiser done earlier in the year.

This ball machine has the ability to simulate really high-level players so the team gets to practice against balls that a good player might hit at them.

“It has definitely helped us with our game to build our consistency as well as getting repetition,” Harwood said.

Head coach Shaun McMahon is excited for the upcoming season and to see how the new ball machine plays out.

“Going into the season it is always difficult to know how you’re going to compete against other schools,” McMahon said. “We are just going into this year and try our best and compete at our highest level.”

The girls first match is this Thursday versus Omaha Northwest at home.

“We are going to go out there and play some good tennis,” McMahon said. “I’m excited to see how the girls play in our first match.”