With five returning letterwinners, including a senior in her fourth year in the program, a windfall of incoming newcomers and a new divisional alignment this fall, Defiance girls tennis has plenty of optimism heading into the 2026 campaign.<\/p>\n
In head coach Amy McDonald\u2019s 14th year coaching, the veteran core for the Bulldogs brings back a boatload of experience, led by senior and four-year letterman Addison Becher. Becher\u2019s fellow senior letterwinners Morgann Brown, Lily Delaney and Haylin Smith all enter their third varsity campaigns while sophomore Jadah Williams also returns after lettering and competing in doubles for Defiance in 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis group has gained a lot of experience and they\u2019re positive leaders,\u201d said McDonald. \u201cThey\u2019re also helpful and encouraging to the new players.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seniors Penelope Degler and Aubree James are also in the mix to see varsity match action, along with junior Maura Ortiz and freshman Alia Floss.<\/p>\n
Floss will likely slot in at third singles behind Becher and Delaney to open the season while Brown and Smith team up on the doubles side along with a pairing of Williams and Ortiz.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis team has a solid core group of veterans,\u201d explained McDonald. \u201cThe five returning varsity players have gained experience from their past seasons and have worked to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n
McDonald cited 10 promising newcomers to the 2026 roster that provide depth and health to the program as they look to develop during the season. Senior Isa Martinez is in the mix, along with juniors Serenity Berry and Abigail Kern and sophomore Maria Martinez.<\/p>\n
A six-player group of freshmen will also look to make their mark in their first varsity campaigns with Madelyn Auch, Sophie Fisher, Tatum Huber, Emme Mast, Keydjy Sauveur and Nela Smolik joining the ranks.<\/p>\n
The graduation of Natalie Kost and Melody Haase provides a hole at first doubles while Camy Ulaszewski departs from her spot at third singles.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlayers will be challenged to play their best, be consistent, and stay mentally focused for every point,\u201d noted McDonald. \u201cThis team enjoys playing tennis and has worked to be competitive. If they play their best, have a competitive match and continue to enjoy the sport, this will be a successful season.\u201d<\/p>\n
One major change for the Bulldogs will be apparent at the end of the regular season as the Bulldogs return back to Division II after competing in Division I in the last two postseasons. The school\u2019s girls base enrollment of 255 puts them at the high end of D-II with Norwalk and Grafton Midview at 277 marking the smallest schools in Division I.<\/p>\n
Defiance was 6-11 a season ago and 3-6 in Western Buckeye League matches before finishing tied for seventh in the WBL tournament with St. Marys for a seventh-place overall league finish in 2025.<\/p>\n
With the top half of the league boasting talented programs like Wapakoneta, Lima Shawnee, Elida and O-G, the road to rising in the league hierarchy isn\u2019t an easy one.<\/p>\n
\u201cWapak, Shawnee, Elida, Celina, & O-G finished in the top half of the WBL last year,\u201d said McDonald. \u201cIt is a very tough league, and our goal is to be competitive at every match.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With five returning letterwinners, including a senior in her fourth year in the program, a windfall of incoming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17989,17992,17987,17991,17912,28,17990,10600,17988],"class_list":["post-48381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-amateur-sports","tag-letterman-sports","tag-multi-sport-clubs","tag-school-sport","tag-student-sports-organizations","tag-tennis","tag-university-and-college-sports-clubs-and-teams","tag-varsity-team","tag-youth-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48381","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=48381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}