Although the men’s tennis team did not perform as well as they expected last weekend, a handful of players took positives from the Tyler Invitational.

The tournament was delayed due to rain. However, the officials were able to reorganize the schedule to allow as many matches as possible.

Head Tennis coach Scott Linn sees the tournament as a great competition and a learning opportunity.

He also stresses the importance of competing in tournaments for the team’s overall development.

“Playing matches is very important,” Linn said. “You can’t compare what you learn in a game to what you learn at practice.”

In spite of his performance, Tomas Grejtak claimed every tournament is a learning experience and the fall tournaments are pivotal to the spring season.

“The level of the tournament was pretty good. There were very good players in all flights,” added Grejtak. “I learned that if I want to beat better players, I need to better define my game and make it simple.”

Other tennis players had similar feelings about the tournament.

Jarrod Liston, who reached the quarterfinals in the Collin County Tournament two weeks ago, felt both tournaments were different in terms of intensity.

Liston said he believes the team would be well-prepared for the spring as long as they put what they learned at the tournaments in practice.

“It was a big learning experience for me personally and the group as a whole,” Liston said. “We all learned things that we need to improve if we want to be successful in the future.”

Agreeing with Liston, Kacper Boborykin said his teammates were able to display more energy and focus in Collin County.

Although Boborykin understood their hard work did not pay off last weekend, he said the team is prepared to tackle the spring season.

“Even if I didn’t play good I think we were really prepared and we worked very hard,” said Boborykin. “It’s just disappointing that the hard work didn’t pay off this weekend, but I’m sure that it will pay off in the nearest future.”

Boborykin was able to make it to the finals in the consolation draw and the quarterfinals with Gejtak in the doubles.

Nevertheless, he said he felt he could have done better.

“It was a disappointing tournament for me and for my teammates,” said Boborykin. “But we have to move on and try to get better.”

Similarly, Luke Joyce, who lost 3-6 6-4 10-8, saw last weekend as learning avenue.

The senior is certain that the Tyler Invitational underlined the team’s weaknesses, as well as the areas that need improvement.

“Although we didn’t have the results we wanted, this tournament has certainly helped us as a team figure out what we need to get better at,” Joyce said. “It has highlighted some areas that we now have two or three months to work on until we play our first dual match in the spring.”

After participating in their last tournaments, the Mustangs will take a break till their season kicks off in the spring.

“The whole team has had a far better fall season than last year, which is a huge positive and we need to focus on that,” Joyce said. “We have had guys make solid runs in tournaments over the fall and won championships, so this fall has been a good one. We now have our work cut-out for us to make a run in the spring and get to the postseason.”