Smoky Valley’s Keaton Leiker has mixed emotions about his upcoming and final season as a Viking tennis player.

“I feel joyful about my future experiences with the team, but also sad it is my last year,” Leiker said. “I plan to make the most of this year and start the season strong.”

It was all tennis, all of the time for Leiker throughout his offseason.

“This last summer I played tennis almost every day, whether it was with friends, at tennis camp, or Lindsborg Netters,” Leiker said. “I always had time for the court.”

Even though Leiker finished 11th at the state tournament last season, there were still some things that he felt like needed to be refined – one thing in particular.

“Something that needs work before the start of the season is my ball placement,” Leiker said. “Placing the ball has always been a struggle for me. A way I have improved this is just hitting the ball with either a partner or a ball machine over and over again placing it with more precision than power.”

Being one of the leaders on Smoky Valley’s team, Leiker has the proper balance of individual and team goals for this season.

“Individually, my goals are to continue to improve in the short term of the season and for the rest of my life,” Leiker said. Team-wise I want each player of the team to be successful and place high at state.”