The Festus girls tennis team graduated 10 players from its roster last year, including five of its top six.
That usually means the program is in for a rebuilding year.
Tiger head coach Angela Tinnin said it will definitely be a year of growth, but they’ve restocked the lineup and are looking forward to a successful season.
“Our girls have worked hard in the offseason,” said Tinnin, who’s been with the program 10 years and became head coach in 2019. “They have participated in our Tennis Tuesdays, various tournaments, summer tennis camps, individual lessons and extra time individually on the courts.”
Festus also added matches with several schools, such as Poplar Bluff, Saxony Lutheran and Sikeston.
“I am very excited to see how these girls compete against some of these other schools this season,” Tinnin said.
The high turnover has created keen competition for the top six spots. Junior Madison Gray has worked tirelessly in the offseason to improve her game.
“Her volleys and serve are two of her main strengths that will be an advantage for her this season,” Tinnin said.
Junior Rosalie Tedford, a lefty, is strong and athletic and has improved her strokes and serve. “She will definitely have an advantage over opponents with her quickness to cover the court.” Seniors Mollie Drury and Liza Richardson have improved their volley and groundstroke skills in the offseason, and junior Ava Lee and sophomores Sofie Griffin, Clara Lincoln, Grace Vogel and Olivia Lucas all have raised their game as well.
“We have an excellent blend of senior leadership and underclassmen with talent throughout our lineup,” Tinnin said. “This gives us great opportunity to win matches at each singles slot.”
Doubles was a weakness for Festus last year, but Tinnin said it has shown much improvement, and she hopes to make it a strength this year.
“It’s important to balance personalities that gel, and encourage each other, as well as having the correct skills for doubles, such as good volleys and a strong serve,” she said. “Collectively, we were not a particularly strong-serving team last year. This is an area where we have improved dramatically.”
So far the Tiger doubles teams are: Gray/Tedford; Richardson/Drury; Lee/Griffin; Lincoln/Vogel; Anna Sardo/Olivia Lucas; Ava Green/Mila French; Hailey Ide/Lainey Salatas and Ava Karr/Maddi Pippin.
Festus is in Class 2 District 1 this season, along with St. Pius X, Cape Girardeau Central, Cape Girardeau Notre Dame, Farmington, Mehlville and Poplar Bluff. The Tigers won the Jefferson County Activities Association title in 2019, 2021 and 2022 and placed second as a team in districts in 2022.
Festus opened the season Sept. 4 with an 8-1 loss to Jackson.
Many of the Festus players take lessons in the offseason, which Tinnin encourages.
“We are striving daily to develop the correct execution of groundstrokes, volleys, and serves,” she said. “This year footwork and moving on the court are also a main focus, along with consistency and strategy. Many repetitions and lots of time working on striking the ball are essential to becoming successful tennis players.
“We have a team full of great kids. They are hardworking students who are each going to make their mark on the world in a positive way.”
Owls have young squad
Windsor head coach Doc Carranza said the Owls are a young team without much experience.
But there appears to be a clear pecking order to the lineup with junior Hadley Flanders at No. 1, followed by senior Isabella Martin (2), sophomore Ava Atzert (3), junior Kilee Hillis (4), sophomore Ella Cate (5) and freshman Anna Simon (6).
Windsor’s doubles pairings are: 1. Flanders/Martin; 2. Hillis/Simon; 3. Cate/Ariana Eslamian (junior).
The Owls, in Class 1 District 2, began the season Sept. 3 with a 5-4 win over Bishop DuBourg.
The other schools in the JCAA do not field girls teams in the fall but some of them have girls who compete with the boys teams in the spring, as permitted by state rule.
Lancers on their own
St. Pius X won’t get a chance to defend its 2023 JCAA title because the school was expelled from the conference back in March and is now fully independent across all sports.
Like Festus, the Lancers lost their top 10 tennis players (nine seniors) from last season, including Class 2 state qualifiers Carolyne Argana, Chloe Kronlage and Brook Madden.
“So this year we are managing expectations and focusing on improving our own games rather than worrying about what other teams are doing,” said head coach Stephen Kainz, who enters his 11th season.
This year Kainz said the Lancers are working on being aggressive at the net and being good communicative doubles partners.
“My returning players, when they realized how many tennis players were graduating, went into overdrive to get their friends and family out playing tennis and rebuild our team,” he said.
Since many of his players are novices in the sport, Kainz teaches basics like the differences between a forehand and backhand and how to keep score.
Returning players work on more specific skills, which makes coaching both groups a challenge.
“Life would be a lot easier if I was one of those tennis coaches at a bigger school who inherits players from the private coaches at the country clubs and just sends them out onto the courts,” Kainz said. “But it’s kind of fun to see how much progress players can make, knowing nothing when they join the team to when they get to their senior year.”
Senior Jordan Becker is the Lancers’ most experienced player, starting her fourth season.
Freshman Charlotte Kurzweil is new to the team but not to tennis. Two of her older sisters played for Pius, including 2021 district doubles champion Caroline Kurzweil.
Junior Addie Wallis is one of the leaders of the team who helps make everyone feel included and has many creative ideas for team bonding, Kainz said.
Sophomore Kate Tilley has made huge improvements to her game in the offseason and is always trying to get more power out of her shots. Senior Olivia Becker is in her second year but has made great progress in her consistency of play.
Sophomore Julia Whitman is new to the team but has a lot of natural athleticism to go with enthusiasm for the sport.
The doubles teams are still being sorted out.
St. Pius won back-to-back district titles in 2021 and 2022, the second coming after they moved up from Class 1 to Class 2.
The Lancers don’t have Windsor or Festus on their schedule.