OnFocus Season Preview
Coaching staff: Head Coach: Brad Barton (8th year coaching) 4 years as assistant, 4 as head
Assistant Coach: Morgan Wilde (4th year coaching)
Key returners: Senior Lauren Belsky, Sophomore Emily Frahm, Junior Sarah Rell, Senior Chloe Belant, Junior Kaytlyn Hulke, Sophomore Rose Dornbrack, Sophomore Korina Kraegenbrink
Key newcomers: Sophomore Jenna Malluege, Freshman Greta Peterson, Freshman Addison Pickard.
Conference outlook: We were 1-15 overall last year (0-6 conference). We have more girls out this year than last year (19 compared to 13). We have a much more eager team to learn and excel in tennis this year than last year. Our goal this year is to win 1 conference meet. Wausau West, Stevens Point, and Marshfield will be very hard to contend with. We should be able to compete with DC Everest, Wausau East, and Wisconsin Rapids, though. The next two years after this year look very good as most of our players are freshman and sophomores this year.
Keys to your success this season: We have a lot of the keys in place already. We have had a lot of court time this year (the girls have really put in the time in the off-season). We have the right attitude as a collective unit this year. Last year we vacated all three of our varsity doubles spots every meet. We had a lot of inexperienced freshman last year and not enough upper classmen to fill those spots. This year I made the decision to have a full varsity line-up. I told the girls in the off-season, do not be surprised if we have a full varsity line-up this year. It is part the coaches responsibility to get them ready for varsity and part the girls responsibility to improve their games and I feel that both parts have been meet this year. Sometimes when put in a situation where you have to elevate your game you do.
Behind the scenes: Who are some of the people that help your program succeed? We had one of the best tennis booster moms this year in Jessica Belant (Chloe Belant’s mother). She headed up setting up all of our fundraisers this year. She also made props to display at these fundraisers. She made survival fun kits for the girls. She set up our tennis bonder this year. Without here our coaching staff would have been really overworked. Thank you Jessica! I would also like to thank Clinton Wallis. He has been instrumental throughout the years with Merrill tennis. He is one of the Wausau Tennis Center Professionals that helps our girls out during the winter months. He instructs them on Sunday mornings. He also heads up our tennis camp in the summer.
Coach’s comments: anything else you’d like to share? Emily Frahm is one to watch this year. The sky is really the limit for her. She has put in so much time with tennis (personal lessons, tennis indoors in the winter). I would not be surprised if she is playing number one singles this year. It might go back and forth all year between her and senior Lauren Belsky. Lauren took her junior year of tennis off to focus on other things, but thank goodness she came back this year. She is our number one singles player right now. She played number one singles some of the time her sophomore year. Chloe Belant and Sarah Rell are pairing up to play number one doubles this year. I am glad we have two of our best players playing this spot as number one doubles is a very coveted sport. Chloe has always been a doubles specialist. She unfortunately had to play singles her junior year least year due to the amount of people that came out for tennis last year. We have some very competitive newcomers this year. Greta Peterson, Jenna Malluege, Addison Pickard, and Lauren Rice are the first four that come to mind. Greta is an interesting story this year. She switched from swimming last year to tennis this year. I know the swimming coaches were sad to see her leave as she was a very good swimmer. Greta started from ground zero this year in tennis, but is already advancing quickly in the ranks.
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Author: David Keech
David Keech is a retired teacher and works as a sportswriter, sports official and as an educational consultant. He has reported on amateur sports since 2011, known as 'KeechDaVoice.' David can be reached at [email protected]
