By Matt Browning
Hillsboro’s Jace Forkner did not qualify for the state tournament last season as a junior, but he is optimistic that will not be the case this year.
For his senior season, Forkner plans to primarily focus on singles rather than splitting time between singles and doubles like he did in 2025.
“My goals I have for myself is to make it to state this year, do well overall in my own record this season,” Forkner said. “For the team I want everyone to get better every chance we get and for as much of the team to make state as possible. Overall the most important thing I want for the team is for them to improve anyway they can.”
Forkner finished last season with a 7–10 record in singles while also going 4–4 in doubles. He identified two specific areas he wanted to improve in order to strengthen his record and give himself a better path to state.
“I have been working on my back hand and my spin just by myself leading up to this tennis season due to those being my weakest things right now but they have improved a lot,” Forkner said. “I worked on it during the off season by just getting a lot of practice in with those two things.”
