2024 OnFocus Season Preview: Merrill Bluejays Girls Tennis
Coaching staff: Head Coach: Elizabeth Thiel, 1st year. Assistant Coach: Morgan Wilde (5th
year)
Key returners: Junior Emily Frahm, Senior Sarah Rell, Junior Jenna Malluege, Junior Korina
Kraegenbrink, Senior Johanna Dahlke, Junior Parker Wagenaar, Sophomore Claire Hintz,
Junior Rose Dornbrack, Senior Kaytlyn Hulke
Key newcomers: Junior Maycie Zastrow, Junior Grace Hoock, Sophomore Addison Pickard,
Sophomore Greta Peterson
Conference outlook:
As this is my first season as Head Varsity Coach, I am very excited for the
season to begin. We went from 19 girls to 29 girls. We gained 7 new freshmen this year who
jumped right in, eager to learn without having any experience. As this is my first season, I am
implementing new strategies for both doubles and singles to be more competitive on the court. I
see a lot of talent on the team during practice with the motivation to learn new techniques. One
area of improvement would be our serving. One of the more difficult things about tennis is
serving. As a team, they have all wished to improve upon this. So we will be putting a heavy
focus on this during practice to increase accuracy, speed, form and confidence while serving.
Keys to your success this season: The key to our success this year will be for the girls to be
more confident in their abilities and carry it to their matches throughout the season. With my
limited time thus far with the team and still evaluating the team as a whole, I am excited about
what I have seen from my veteran players so far.
Coach’s comments: anything else you’d like to share? One major goal I had for this season
was to update our tennis equipment. The original equipment had excessive wear and was in
need of replacement. Sierra Pacific Windows and Merrill Lions Club both graciously donated
towards new court squeegees and new scorecards. On top of that, our tennis booster mom,
Kelly Kraegenbrink, headed up our Weekly bake sales at Gazebo Nights, which helped
generate enough funds to purchase additional uniforms for all our incoming players. Additionally,
I am looking forward to getting to know each of the players, teaching them to become well
rounded players on the court, and winning aconference match.
****************************************************************
2024-25 OnFocus Central Wisconsin Area Conferences: Conference and Team Links, Schedules
Know some top athletic performances? Seeing some great teams in action?
We can use your help, and it’s simple. Witness some great performances? Hear about top athletes and top teams in our area?
Athlete of the Week and Team of the Week:
Nominate an athlete or team: HERE
**********************************************
Pancakes or Waffles! We feature top area athletes with our world-renowned feature. Send us your nominations for who you’d like us to interview HERE
College Athlete Roundup! We want to recognize student-athletes from the area who are competing at the college level. Send us information on college athletes from the area with our simple form HERE
Where are they Now? We feature athletes and difference makers from the past, standouts in sports who excelled over the years and have moved on. Know of a former athlete, coach, or difference maker who we should feature? Know of a former standout competitor whose journey beyond central Wisconsin sports is one we should share? Send us information on athletes and difference makers of the past with our simple form HERE
Baked or Fried! We also feature difference makers throughout central Wisconsin: coaches, booster club leaders, administration, volunteers, you name it. Send us your nominations for who you’d like us to interview HERE
We welcome your stories! Contact us at [email protected]!
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]
