WHS tennis girls aim to contend

Last season was a breakthrough one for the Waseca High School girls' tennis team, with the Bluejays advancing to the state tournament for the first time in 12 years.

Can they do it again? We'll see.

"We hope to compete for a Big South Conference Division title and Section 1A championship again," said head coach Kyle Collins.

The Bluejays, strength, according to Collins, are six of the 10 varsity players are returning letterwinners. "

We have a good core group of players returning from last year's state tournament team," said Collins. "They will need to step up their game to fill in the holes left by our top players, who graduated last spring."

Collins' biggest concern at this point is doubles, where the Bluejays will be young and inexperienced.

The top eturnees include senior Vivian Mader, Takaya Schoenrock, Mia Kanewischer, Addie Pfieffer.

The key to success?

"We will need to play with a lot of consistenty and grit, and learn how to handle tough pressure situations when the match is on the line," said Collins.

This marks the first year girls' tennis has a three-class system, A, AA and AAA. The Bluejays remained in Class A, where Collins expects a battle from Cannon Falls, which returns most of its section runner-up team. The section also includes Winona Cotter, Lake City, Rochester Lourdes, Red Wing and United South Central.

It's not the only change.

"This season is the first for inmatch coaching," said Collins. "Coaches can talk to their players with the 25 seconds after a point is finished. This adds a new dimension to tennis."

Collins, in his 28th year at Waseca and 22nd has girls' head coach, has a career mark of 246152 including 15-6 last year. He's assisted by Abbe Hoehn.