The ‘Cats are back on the court.
The Oyster River High School (ORHS) Bobcats boys tennis team hosts the Kennett Eagles on April 23rd at 4 PM.
The Bobcats tennis team looks to bounce back from a difficult 6-8 season in 2024, and is off to a promising start. Through four games, the Bobcats are 2-3, with both wins being dominating 9-0 routs and two of the losses being close 5-4 games. They look to even up their record against a struggling Kennett team. The Eagles, 4-10 in 2024, have lost their first five out of six matches to start the season.
With games like this, it can be easy to walk into it with the wrong mindset. Oyster River has already fallen victim to this once this year to the hands of Plymouth, a team who is in their first year in Division 2 after making the switch from Division 3. One of the team’s captains Connor Monette (‘26) is confident that they were the better team. “We didn’t have the right mindset. I don’t think we were well put together and we should have left with a win.”
Going into Kennett, the team is set on preventing that from happening again. “The mentality can’t be any different from a normal game. We can’t take anyone lightly just because of their record, and know that if we just execute, we will win,” said Aaryan Katikireddy (‘25).
Last year, the two teams met twice, with Oyster River taking both of them, but Kennett battled. Early in the season, they met in Durham, where the Bobcats won 6-3. And when Oyster River took the road in May, Kennett made it even tougher, just barely squeaking out a 5-4 win.
Since those matches, the Bobcats had five seniors graduate including the team’s previous captain James Li. “It’s really hard to lose a guy like James,” said Monette. “He was so good for the team so it’s hard to look at that spot and just replace him. Everyone has to step up a little bit.”
In an effort to replace him and the other four, the Bobcats have turned to younger guys to make a big jump. “It’s a next man up mentality,” said Katikireddy. “We needed a lot of improvements, and a few of the underclassmen responded really well.” The few players he noted were Will Sowers (‘27), Ethan Boysen (‘27), and Ian Johnson (‘27).
To help them become comfortable with this shift, Monette has been working to step up in his role as a captain. “People look up to you and I’m trying to use that in the right way and spread the right message to help the team,” said Monette.
Stop by the ORHS courts on April 23rd at 4 PM to see the Oyster River Varsity tennis team battle Kennett.
– Kevin Kell
Mouth of the River 
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