For the past five years, tennis coach Alberto Ramirez has had to train his freshmen through “trial by fire,” as men’s tennis has not had a JV team for quite some time.

But as of this year Ramirez will have a JV team because there are more than 20 players combined on both JV and varsity.

Ramirez is very happy about the addition of the JV team. “(It) allows me to train my freshmen, because in previous years I had freshmen playing seniors, which was unfair.”

The new JV currently has no coach,  which means they cannot play games just yet. Ramirez says he hopes to mold freshmen and sophomores to the point where they can face varsity opponents.

Instead of having inexperienced players go against 4-year veterans of the game.

The addition also adds a layer of competition within the organization forcing players in the bottom four varsity players, out of the 12 on varsity, as ranked by Ramirez. The bottom four must face challenges by JV players who wish to take their spot.

This prevents players from slacking off and skipping practices, because if they don’t show up to practice or don’t try as hard they can be demoted to JV.

Overall the new JV tennis team will be a great addition to a growing men’s tennis program.