ATLANTIC \u2013 The second year of fall girls\u2019 tennis will feature the top two singles players from a year returning to anchor Atlantic\u2019s lineup.<\/p>\n
Jacobi Harter and Lily Willrich, both seniors, were in the top two positions as Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, a year ago. Harter went 6-8, with a games record of 86-93, while Willrich took home a 9-4 record, with a games\u2019 record of 86-53.<\/p>\n
The Trojans finished fifth at last year\u2019s Hawkeye Ten Conference meet, the last year for the old 11-team lineup, where Harter was fifth in the No. 1 singles flight and Willrich took fourth at No. 2 singles.<\/p>\n
Willrich defeated Harter in the third-place match at last year\u2019s Iowa Class 1A regional singles tournament, as both were in contention for that coveted state tournament spot. That didn\u2019t happen, of course, but coach Mike McDermott is looking for big things from the pair, plus his other top players, this fall.<\/p>\n
Taryn O\u2019Brien, the Trojans\u2019 other senior, was primarily in doubles play, finishing 12-4. McDermott figures she\u2019ll fit into the No. 4 singles spot this year.<\/p>\n
Dylin Ball, a junior, is being eyed as the No. 3 singles spot after seeing some action at No. 6 a year ago, going 3-1 there.<\/p>\n
So some good experience to replace several departed seniors, including Aunkita Darrow, Addie Freund, Aubrey Winford and Shauna Anderson.<\/p>\n
\u201cJacobi and Lilly, both returning starters for us last year … have over 160 varsity matches so far in their career,\u201d he said. \u201cI think they\u2019re both at just over 80 and that\u2019s going to serve them well on the experience side. Both of them are nice players and looking to cap off their career here as seniors.<\/p>\n
\u201cJacobi is just a really consistent player. She\u2019s got kind of a flat ball and just keeps the ball in play. She\u2019s also one of those players that can extend a match, so she\u2019s not afraid to play a two hour match,\u201d McDermott continued. \u201cLily, with her it\u2019s definitely her power. She can hit with some real effective top spin and has a nice serve as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for O\u2019Brien, who\u2019ll see her first extensive singles play this fall?<\/p>\n
\u201cHer strength is definitely at the net in doubles and maybe that\u2019ll translate over to singles too. We\u2019re hoping for some big things out of Taryn this year for our team to progress,\u201d said McDermott.<\/p>\n
Ball, who has spent time working with the city of Atlantic\u2019s Parks and Recreation Department giving tennis lessons, has worked on her serves, and it\u2019s started to show in her games this fall.<\/p>\n
As a group, McDermott is counting on his experience to guide a 20-player roster this year, which includes two eighth graders. The Iowa Legislature approved eighth graders playing high school sports this past spring, and while both are expected to remain at the junior varsity level this fall, they\u2019ll add something to the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve got a lot of varsity experience amongst all four of them, and so they\u2019re going to be looked upon to lead some of our new players and help us find a No. 5 and 6 player,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Early on, juniors Saige Coffman and Sophia Rose, and sophomore Hope Hammontree appear to be front-runners, but there\u2019s a long list of hopefuls hoping to break into the lineup.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a ton of younger players that are looking to try to find their way into that lineup,\u201d said McDermott. \u201cIt\u2019s probably too early to say right now, but we\u2019ve got a good group to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n
The challenge will now be trying to figure out doubles teams. While Harter and Willrich were the No. 1 team from a year ago, there\u2019s still two other pairings to figure out. That said, Ball and O\u2019Brien teamed at No. 2 singles for the Hawkeye Ten meet last fall and finished fifth.<\/p>\n
The Hawkeye Ten Conference has a new look this fall, with the addition of Carroll from the Raccoon River Conference, and the departures of Red Oak, Shenandoah and Council Bluffs Lewis Central to various conferences. Shenandoah remains as a non-conference opponent, while Lewis Central will come to the Trojan Invitational in early September.<\/p>\n
As for top contenders for the conference championship? McDermott is pointing at Clarinda, last year\u2019s runner-up behind Shenandoah. Carroll Kuemper finished fourth behind No. 1 singles runner-up Charlotte Schwabe, now a senior, and is also a strong contender. Creston returns five of its top six from last fall.<\/p>\n
The Trojans open the season Thursday at home against Kuemper Catholic, with a road game Aug. 10 at Clarinda.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur first two matches, we\u2019re gonna find out who we are,\u201d he said. \u201cWe hope that we\u2019re right there also. We want to be in that top half of the conference.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTIC \u2013 The second year of fall girls\u2019 tennis will feature the top two singles players from a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":46965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1085,17438,7284,17437,8064,28],"class_list":["post-46964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-american-football","tag-atlantic-ocean","tag-ball","tag-hawkeye-10-conference","tag-ncaa-division-i-fbs-football-teams","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}