The Missouri Valley tennis season is underway, and the team has received early accolades to start out the year.

The Missouri valley men and women’s tennis team, coached by Ryan Carney, are off to a good start. The men’s team is ranked 24th in the preseason polls, while the women are in the receiving votes category. However, the team plans to look past the rankings and put in all the work needed to become even better.

Carney, head coach for 17 years, has seen many different rankings in his time at Missouri Valley College. Carney said he wants to focus on what the team can do now.

“It’s nice, but we try not to put too much emphasis on that,” Carney said. Sometimes the rankings do a little bit of interesting things in terms of where you end up, so we just want to focus on everyday getting better and the rankings will hopefully continue to improve but yeah were pleased with where we started.”

Both teams are very confident about their on-going season, and a focus that the valley teams are putting an emphasis on this year, is their team chemistry.

Luca Walter, a Valley tennis player, said: “I think right now the team is the strongest we’ve ever had. I’m only a sophomore but I’m definitely sure we have the best chance to go to nationals.”

Nicole Straznicky, a player from the women’s program, said: “Well, we have a lot of new people this semester, so we’re really working on our relationship, so this semester we’re expecting to feel like a family in the end, so I feel like we have a lot of great girls.”

The Vikings strive to make this year one of the most memorable seasons in mvc history.

The men’s tennis team has started its season out 2-0. While the women have a record of 2-1.

As the team continues to take its season head on, they do deal with some adversity as they deal with the weather in Missouri as it shifts their game schedules and practice schedules. The team plans to keep the ball rolling in its upcoming competitions.