The Baker University men’s and women’s tennis teams have begun practice with the objective of making some racket on the court this spring.

On the women’s side, 13 players are on the squad and the large number of participants gives the team the luxury of increased competition and provides insurance.

“Thirteen girls is pretty big for a tennis team,” Kelsey Stephens, interim women’s tennis coach, said. “It’s good because we can rotate in and out a lot and we have people that can step in with injuries and stuff. It’s pretty good when people can come in and help out the team.”

The women’s team realizes competition in the Heart of America Athletic Conference will be fierce but understands the need to focus on consistent improvement.

“It’s pretty competitive,” Stephens said. “We’re focusing on what we have and how good we can become. Hopefully our success can bring us to that level. We just have to take it one day at a time and see how it goes.”

Stephens said the team is focusing on teamwork, endurance and getting reacquainted with the usual routine in practice.

“We have a young team this year so we’re just going to work on improving our ability and working together as a team to get back into the flow of things,” she said.

“We will be conditioning really hard and getting this team bonding back together.”

Interim men’s head coach Bruce Anderson believes his team is talented and experienced, though lacking in numbers.

“The men’s team is strong but small,” he said. “We don’t have any backups in case of injuries.”

The HAAC conference will be one less in tennis competition this year as Benedictine College dropped its program.

Anderson said the men’s team has the potential to be at the top of the conference, although a few other schools always prove to be worthy opponents.

“Baker is always going to be competitive,” Anderson said. “Lindenwood University and Graceland University really fight at the top.”

Sophomore Bo Zaputovic believes the men’s team has a chance to become No. 1 in the HAAC conference.

“We will have some chances,” he said. “I think we will do fine.”

The first conference match is in March versus Lindenwood University.

“Hopefully the weather won’t affect the matches,” Anderson said.

Anderson said the team practices twice a week in Baldwin City and twice a week in Lawrence.