On May 1st, the Branson Bulls Gentlemen’s tennis team competed for the a MCAL title against Redwood, and while they didn’t win, their hard work and success from the rest of year is still something to be celebrated 

Zander Alpert ‘26, team co-captain who was instrumental to their overall success, emphasized the balance between older and younger players the team had this year.

“I think we had a great balance between the upperclassmen… and a couple lowerclassmen who have clearly been playing very hard,” said Alpert

Alpert pointed to the fact that the team gelled in the MCAL playoffs. 

“Making it to the MCAL finals, even though it didn’t go our way, the matches leading up to it, our team felt so locked in and I know everyone went out there and played their hardest,” said Alpert

Though the team didn’t win MCALs, their success was highlighted in the improvement they have made throughout this season.

“The improvement on the team was also something to remark…I think if you told us at the beginning of the season where we would end up now, I think we would be very happy,” said Alpet. 

As Cal Keenley ‘26, co-captain, explains, the team had many wins together outside of MCALs.

“We went 16-2 versus teams other than Redwood and we did a fantastic job with our entire team being able to gather that many wins together,” said Keenley.

For the team, their success this season was uplifted by, as Keenley describes “the best” coaching which truly got the most out of players.

“The coaching was the best I’ve seen in the last four years with the addition of Geno as our assistant coach. Without him, I don’t think our season would have been the same,” said Keenley

This MCAL final for Keenley, the other seniors, and players on the team was nevertheless a good end to a great season

“A favorite moment was me and Zander, senior captains playing in the final together … It was a really good end to our MCAL careers,” said Keenley.