What a wonderful, exciting tennis season at Fountain Hills High School. The girls’ and boys’ teams won their sections, earning the right to participate in the state tournament.

While the girls exited early, the boys continued on to win the state runner-up trophy for Division III. In the process our doubles duo of Matt Fisher and Dominick Cocciola defeated the newly- crowned Thatcher doubles champions. What an upset!

When tennis season ended last year man players continued on pressing hard all summer, which caused the early morning “Tennis Gang” to take notice. We want to thank the Tennis Gang not only for the constant donation of slightly used tennis balls, but also for the Saturday hit around practice with team members. A special thanks to Frank McCosker for the non-stop encouragement to our young players.

Thanks to Parks and Rec for maintaining the beautiful, although limited, courts for our practice and home matches.

Our team included a unique group of supporting parents who stood by us all season, even caravanned to Safford for a most important playoff match for the boys. Playing against horrific winds and a strong team, their cheering helped us climb a mountain. We also would like to thank the special silent angels for their help and support on and off the courts.

Lastly, a huge thanks to our players themselves who played through injuries and sickness. What a wonderful group of young adults. We may never see again a tennis bag with five tennis racquets and an oversized squirt gun. We will miss you Matt Fisher! We hope some of our under-grads will carry on the quiet leadership of Dominick Cocciola.

Thirty-five years of combined coaching between us and it just keeps getting better. This has been a wonderful season. We’re proud of our team. We’re thrilled to have been a part of it.