The Redhawk tennis team takes on Lebanon Trail High School in the third round of 5A team tennis playoffs on Tuesday at 8:00 a.m. at The Courts of McKinney.

With playoff games scheduled for every Tuesday and Friday each week, little time is left for teams to shift gears between opponents.

“Once the playoffs start you don’t have much time to prepare for a certain team since we play so often,” head coach Brandon Justiss said. “Our practices have been focused on staying confident and sharp.”

In order to uphold these expectations, coach Erica Dopson has had her team putting in extra effort in practice.

“To prepare for our match, we have been practicing and using visualization techniques because we expect to play a tough team and have many close matches,” Dopson said. “We have prepared long hours on and off the court for this day.”

With only three rounds left in the playoffs before finals, the pressure is on for the Redhawks.

“My expectation is that we play with confidence and that we play up to our ability and not let the pressure weigh on us,” Justiss said.

The team took on the Lebanon Trail Trailblazers earlier in the season, falling 14-5 leaving the Redhawks with something to prove this time around.

“We play a familiar opponent [Tuesday] and we know what is at stake,” Justiss said. “As long as we play within ourselves and stay confident we will have a great opportunity to advance.”

Previous experience with the Trail Blazers has provided junior Milla Dopson and her team with some insight into their game Tuesday.

“It was super close. We have been preparing the past few weeks, by practicing tiebreaks and strengthening our team spirit,” Milla said. “With our hard work, I think we have a good shot.”

Sophomore Sanjheev Rao expects the match to be close, but he thinks the Redhawks can pull it off.

“It comes down to the tiebreak matches, which we have been preparing for,” Rao said. “I believe we can win it.”