Entering his final high school season, Cookeville Cavaliers tennis player Joseph Rohman said he hopes experience, depth and leadership will help the program continue its strong run in the postseason.
Rohman enters his senior year after starting in both singles and doubles throughout his first three seasons, helping Cookeville reach the state semifinals each of the past two years. Now, Rohman said he hopes to help guide the Cavaliers back to the same stage for a third consecutive season. Rohman said one factor that could help the team is the balance across the lineup.
“It’s really helpful we have a lot of depth on our team,” Rohman said. “Our one through six seeds are pretty similar so that makes it good to, like you’re getting a lot of competition you might face outside the school but you’re getting it within your own team, so that’s pretty nice.”
Rohman said the internal competition has also helped him continue improving his own game. Rather than taking extended breaks from the sport, he prefers to stay active year-round to maintain his form.
“I don’t like taking [an] off-season as much because then you kind of get out of practice, out of reps,” Rohman said. “It’s harder when you get back into the spring match time, [and you] kind of have to relearn everything, so it’s important to keep honing your skills even when not playing matches.”
Rohman said that steady work has paid off over time, pointing to matches against strong opponents and practice sessions with teammates under head coach Brian Rohr as key factors in his development.
Rohman said one moment that stands out came when he faced a player he had struggled against earlier in his career. After losing to the opponent in straight sets as a freshman, including a 6-0 opening set, Rohman returned the following season and came away with the win.
Now one of four seniors on the Cavaliers roster, Rohman said he hopes to use that experience to help bring the team together as the season unfolds.
“Tennis, a lot of people think of it as an individual sport,” Rohman said. “We kind of try to make it a team sport as much as we can.”
With a veteran presence in the lineup and competitive depth throughout the roster, Rohman and the Cavaliers will look to turn that team mindset into another deep postseason run.
