Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008

East moves to post-Majercik era

It will be hard for the Olathe East tennis team to defend its regional title without graduated star Ally Majercik, who went 29-1 at No. 1 singles last year. But the loss of Majercik runs deeper.

For three years, she was the Hawks’ talisman, a player who dominated the opposition, yet did so with class — a determined competitor and a consummate leader.

“I’m definitely going to miss Ally; she’s special,” East coach Jeff Hulse said. “She’s one of those kids who comes along once in a long, long time, that’s for sure.

Still, Hulse said he’s excited about the nucleus the Hawks have coming back. Five varsity players return, including state qualifiers Kristen Stivers, Morgan Lang and Libby Marden.

Lang and Marden, who were regional doubles champions and took 11th place at state last year, appear ready to fill the leadership void left by Majercik. Both are seniors who have played in high-pressure matches and are ultra-competitive, but carry themselves well.

“I know Libby and Morgan are very excited about coming back and making a push,” Hulse said. “They expect themselves to be contenders at the league, regional and state level.”

Hulse knows what he can expect out of Lang and Marden, but the wild card for the season may be Stivers. She went a surprising 20-8 as a sophomore last year and qualified for state.

No one knows just how good she could be this year, but Hulse said that she was hitting balls with boys state qualifier Arin Enge last Friday, so she’s obviously aiming high.

“She’s very driven and comes from a tennis family,” Hulse said. “Both of her parents play and she just really worked hard last year. She got to spar every day with Ally and Ally gave back to the program and got her prepared to fill those shoes.”

East also has its No. 2 doubles team back in seniors Tessa Bell and Shannon Walsh, who finished fourth at the Sunflower League meet last year.

The varsity team’s sixth spot appears up for grabs. Hulse noted that senior Jennifer Dennis had been working particularly hard for it after going a combined 13-1 in junior varsity singles and doubles last year.

Northwest tries to repeat dream season

Last year was pretty good for coach Jim Hix and his Olathe Northwest girls tennis team.

The Ravens scored a school-record 37 points at the league meet, nearly upset Olathe East for a regional championship and sent five players to state, another school record. Repeating that success this year will be a serious challenge.

Hix already knew he was going to lose two outstanding seniors in Emily Huston and Layne Anderson, arguably the best singles and doubles players Northwest has ever had.

But things got even tougher for Hix in the off-season. Candace Boeh, half of a surprise state tournament doubles team, had surgery on her back and is expected to miss the whole season. Caitlin Kennedy, one of the team’s most promising singles players, moved to Virginia.

“We really took a hit with the two graduating seniors and Candace and Caitlin,” Hix said. “But the good news is that Kaylee Thibault has gotten stronger than ever and I think she’s going to really lead our team this year.”

If Hix had said that two years ago, when Thibault was a sophomore going into her first year of competitive tennis, he would have gotten some funny looks. But in a short time Thibault, a tiny dynamo, has transformed herself into the kind of player everyone in Olathe should be eager to watch. She’s quick, she’s got great touch around the net and she’s got experience after playing doubles with Anderson at state last year.

Hix said he wasn’t sure whether Thibault would play singles or doubles this year. The only certainty so far is that she will be a valuable contributor somewhere, along with Candace Boeh’s twin sister Alexis, who is the Ravens’ other returning state qualifier.

Two other returning varsity players, junior Alexandra Olsen and senior Katerina Ferrell, also will fit in the mix somewhere. As far as new faces, Hix said junior Julie Levitt and sophomore Nisha Patel — whose brother played at Northwest — could also be factors, but it will take time to sort everything out after the graduations, injuries and transfers.

“Last year was a special year for us,” Hix said. “I really thought we could give Olathe East a run for their money this year if we would have had Candace and Caitlin back. They’ve got another good team over there and it’s going to be hard to catch up with them now, but we’ll be in there battling with them.”

South starts Renberger era

Conventional wisdom says that the first ingredient when cooking up a solid high school sports program is numbers. That being the case, Olathe South appears to have a bright future in girls tennis.

At the first practice of the year Monday, there were more than 20 Falcons stretching, hitting balls and scrambling to turn in the proper paperwork. Now head coach Jon Renberger, coming off 11 successful years at Free State, will try to maintain that buzz in his first season at South.

“Some of the things that they’re excited about are a new opportunity, a fresh start with a new coach and the fact that there were four seniors so there are quite a few open spots for varsity,” Renberger said. “I’ve probably had conversations with about a dozen different girls who hope or expect to make varsity. I know full well that they all won’t, but it’s good to have so many that believe they have a shot at that.”

A number of Falcons are fairly new to tennis, but Renberger said that many of them at least had experience with the junior varsity team, or had taken lessons and gone to clinics in the off-season.

South also will have two role models to lead the youngsters in Erin Boline and Brittany Bassinger, who played some No. 1 and No. 2 singles last year.

“We’re fortunate to have them back,” Renberger said. “They are clearly the two with the most experience from last year’s team.”

Renberger was hesitant to set any specific goals for his first season with the Falcons, who finished 10th in the league last year. He said he’d just try to help the team improve with each meet and trust that internal competitions would raise everyone’s level of play.

“I think we’ve got a lot of girls who want to play up as high as they can,” Renberger said. “They’re gonna be pushing each other throughout the season and I couldn’t ask for anything more than that.”

North continues to build

There’s not a state championship contender among the 12 girls who are out for tennis at Olathe North this year. But nine of them are varsity returners and only one is a senior, so the Eagles have a chance to make some progress after finishing last at league a year ago.

“The positive is having so many girls back,” North coach Wendy Robinson said. “They obviously have an interest and are willing to work.”

Robinson will have to find replacements for two of last year’s top players, Kaitlin Giles and Alex Fowler. Giles moved to Emporia and Fowler transferred to Olathe East.

That leaves Jenna Nitchske as the top varsity returner after playing in the No. 3 slots a year ago. The season provides another opportunity for the Eagles to get better and prepare for the future.

“We’ll just work on basics and try to be competitive out there,” Robinson said. “But it’s tough when they don’t have much experience, in Johnson County especially.”

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