On Tuesday, Huntley’s varsity tennis team took a hard-fought loss from Jacobs, 2-5.

The Red Raiders had started the season undefeated with five straight wins and a single tie against South Elgin on April 13. Despite having one of their better starts to the season in recent years, Huntley still could not defeat rival Golden Eagles.

This loss will require the team to work a bit harder in the coming weeks and for the rest of the season.

“This loss affects us because it’s going to take a lot more effort now if we want to win conference,” senior Keaton Newsome said. “Not only will we have to beat teams, but we have to beat them by a lot.”

Newsome lost his match, but his leadership skills and pregame speech certainly gave the team some added motivation.

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However, there were a couple bright spots for the team at the meet. Senior Jacob Wat and junior Jack Soderwall won their First Doubles match.

“This loss affects us because it’s going to take a lot more effort now if we want to win conference,” Wat said. “Not only will we have to beat teams, but we have to beat them by a lot.”

However, the team’s poor performance could be contributed to the lack of star player, Charlie Burian.

“Going into the meet, we already knew it would be tough,” Newsome said. “We were playing without one of our best players, Charlie Burian, who had surgery for his wisdom teeth, causing the lineup to shift. Going back and playing them again with our full team might be the difference maker next time.”

The team is still excited to play throughout the rest of the season and even, with a bit of luck and determination, win conference.

“[The loss] shouldn’t affect the team too much as we can still come back from this loss to win conference and Jacobs has always been an extremely good team so it shouldn’t be too much of a downer,” Wat said.

The team looks to bounce back with a win against Cary-Grove tonight.