SEASON PREVIEW: Girls tennis season follows boys' example

Apr. 11—As Wabash Valley high school boys tennis teams discovered in the fall, the road to the state finals has gotten a little tougher.

Girls tennis is on a similar track.

Sullivan's path to a third straight appearance at the girls finals will no longer go through Crawfordsville, a regional site that had been friendly to both Terre Haute North and Terre Haute South in the past. Now the Arrows go south for regional play, as they did in the fall, although Terre Haute North will host a girls regional this spring after Terre Haute South is host for the sectional.

That sectional will also include Northview, as it did for the boys season; the Knights were at Greencastle last spring.

(And the news in the fall wasn't good for Crawfordsville either. Instead of hosting their own regional, as they had for many years, the Athenians found themselves paired with Carmel — with Park Tudor also in the field — in a boys regional six months ago. Even casual fans of high school tennis know that's not a promising situation.)

Here are the outlooks for the players from Vigo and Clay counties or, if you will, a preseason sectional preview.

—Northview — Coach Joni Sutherland's Knights lost to Greencastle in the sectional championship last year and have some veterans returning, led by No. 1 singles player Martina Sutherland.

Samantha Hendricks and Kambree James begin the season as a No. 1 doubles team with experience, and Myra McQueen was at No. 2 singles earlier this week when the Knights lost to Sullivan.

Also in the lineup that night were Anna Keith, Maci Brimberry and Lacy Lee, with Chloe Lee another possibility.

—Terre Haute North — The Patriots were 5-10 a year ago but coach Amanda Lubold is excited about her team's senior leadership, and also its youth. The Patriots got a county victory over West Vigo on Tuesday.

Five North seniors expected to lead the way are Yewon Jung, Becca Williams, Hannah Wineinger, Aubrey Ervin and Kenley Shoults.

Other returnees for the Patriots are junior Rigley Irby and sophomores Audrey Lee and Ella Tapy. And then . . .

"We have 29 total players, and 12 of them are freshmen," Lubold reported, "which should set us up for success in the future."

—Terre Haute South — Coach Janet Rowe has taken a year off to watch her older daughter Lauren play her final season at Southern Indiana, but her daughter Sarah remains as a fixture atop the lineup for coach Dallas Kelsey this season.

The Braves were 14-10 a year ago and also have several other returnees like Jordan Miller, Aja Irish, Savannah Semmler, Jessica Kallubhavi, Morgan Tryon, Ainsley Manalaysay, Anika Gera, Olive Levine, Alyssa Doll and Elle Luken.

"We are fortunate to have a relatively young team with a lot of depth and varsity experience," said Kelsey, whose team has started 1-3 against some stiff competition. "We have so many capable players that we will need some time to find our final lineup.

"I think we have the talent and drive to have a very successful year," Kelsey added.

—West Vigo — The Vikings finished in the middle of the Western Indiana Conference standings last spring and coach Kasey Chew is excited about this year's possibilities.

The Vikings' point against North on Tuesday came from freshman India Pigg at No. 2 singles, while veteran Allie Lasecki and freshman Jessa Bark made up the rest of the singles lineup.

Doubles players Monday were senior Maddie Bradbury and sophomore Baylie Vester at No. 1 and two newcomers to tennis, sophomores Eva Salinas and Somer Ockerman at No. 2. Junior Lilly Wrin, currently injured, could soon join the doubles lineup and Chew expects that she and Bradbury could be a strong pairing.

"We have 21 girls, the biggest group we've had in five or six years," Chew said. "I'm pretty excited."