Girls tennis gets large turnout

The Lady Outlaws tennis program had 25 girls come out for the sport this season, which will allow the program to field both a varsity and JV team.

Returning to the varsity squad are seniors Hannah Ezell, Emma Horner, Rheanna Salisbury, Ramsey Schar, Hallie Schwartz, Holly Werts; juniors Lauren Fitzke, Ellie Rush, and Sophie Silva; and sophomore Chloe Winter. All these young ladies earned varsity letters last year.

Coaches are excited about the new talent that joined the team including seniors Quin Crowe, Allison Mansfield, Emma Maxwell, Mattie Mynatt, and Gracen ­Sundstrom; junior Maliah Mandal; sophomores Jenna Kizziar and Madison ­Pollard; and freshmen Elana ­Mansfield, Ellie Mayes, ­Morgan Monrean, Josie Patton, Hadley Schar, Olivia Newton, and Catalina Chapman.

All these young athletes are currently involved in intersquad competition and are vying for the 12 varsity positions. At this time it has not been decided who will be playing at the singles and doubles spots.

Coach Alan Von Stein told The Nugget that all of the girls are enthusiastic and have very positive attitudes. He also noted that for many of the girls it is the first time they have picked up a tennis racket.

Darci Fitzke and Rebecca Von Stein are helping out as assistant coaches and are working to develop a robust junior varsity schedule, which will allow playing time and skill-set improvement for the non-varsity talent.

Von Stein said, “We are excited to help these young athletes develop a passion for the life-long sport of tennis.”

The girls tennis squad will swing into action with a match at Ridgeview on Monday, March 16.