All four local tennis teams have had success in recent years. With another fall season in front of them, all four of excited about hitting the courts this week.
Athenians hope to improve
Crawfordsville’s boys tennis team only returns three players from a season ago, but new coach Craig Brainard is excited about building for the future.
Sophomores Austin Motz, Thatcher Gambrel, and Peyton Groumoutis return this fall.
“We have a young team with little experience so I will be looking to these guys to lead and pass along what they know when they can,” he said.
The Athenians lost four players to graduation, and had another move away. Senior Owen Bennett, junior Zach Fitcher, sophomore Esau Diaz, and freshmen Austin Heek and Jacob Burke join the young team.
“We were able to recruit a good number of first-time players that show promise in their athleticism to pick up the sport and were able to make a fully varsity team,” Brainard said.
With just enough guys to fill a varsity roster, Brainard is excited to see the improvement throughout the season.
“This season I would like to step up our leadership and practice regiment. Having so few players, we are able to get a lot of reps in each practice so I’m looking to our young returners and our new older guys to step up and set the tone, work hard, and stay focused,” he said. “We have a lot of room to improve, but I think if the guys keep up the pace that has been set thus far in practice, the improvement we witness this season will be phenomenal.”
Crawfordsville opens the season on Tuesday at Fountain Central.
Mustangs hope to repeat
The Fountain Central boys tennis team is poised to have another dominating year.
Carson Eberly returns at No. 1 singles, and Cody Linville is back at No. 3. The No. 1 doubles team of Jacob Keeling and Denton Otero are back, as well as varsity player CJ Yager. Sawyer Keeling, Brent Myers, and Carter Merryman will battle for the other two spots.
“I believe we return a lot of experience at our top spots. Our kids have experience, which proves to be important as the season rolls on,” Mustangs coach Chris Webb said.
Fountain Central won both the Wabash River Conference and IHSAA Sectional last fall for the first time since 2013, and the expectations remain the same for 2019.
“We have structured a schedule to try to ensure we are ready for tournament play,” Webb said. “Coach Kight and I really want to see our kids win a third-straight sectional title, especially for our seniors.”
Fountain Central opens the season at home against Crawfordsville.
Chargers look to rebuild
A complete turnover of the North Montgomery boy’s tennis roster has coach Shannon Joyce in rebuild mode this fall, but remains optimistic for the upcoming season.
“We are a young team and look to gain experience this season,” she said. “Each practice I see improvements as we build on our tennis skills. I am excited to see what they can do this year and who steps up.”
Hunter Kashon, Carter Livinstom, and Will McKinnis are the three players returning for the Chargers this season. Joyce knows they will have to step into leadership roles.
“I look to my three returning players to lead the team with their knowledge of the game,” she said. We also have a couple of new players whose athleticism and involvement in other sports is going to benefit them.”
Joyce can see her team is enthusiastic about learning the sport, and has implemented lofty goals for the season.
“We’d love to grab a county title and be competitive in conference,” she said.
Rounding out the roster is sophomores Jakob Kirsch and Kaden Ervin, and freshmen David Freeman, Hayden Turner, Haze Kashon, Brooks Walters, Ben Eldridge, and Landon Patterson.
North Montgomery opens the season Tuesday at Pike.
Stay tuned for a Southmont boy’s tennis preview later this week.
