By CHRIS RANDAZZO
of The Gazette
You'd think a team that lost 10 seniors to graduation (five from the varsity and five from junior varsity) would struggle to have a successful season. That certainly wasn't the case for the Stevens Point Area Senior High School girls tennis team, which earned a trip to the WIAA Division 1 State Team Meet in Madison, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 19-20, for the first time in school history.
"I was as amazed as anyone that we were as strong as we were this year," coach Nancy Schmidt said. "You can attribute it to kids stepping forward, we had a good team last year and there were others who wanted to take their spots. The ones that made varsity are the ones who came out prepared this year."
En route to its trip to state, the team went 8-0 in the Wisconsin Valley Conference and won the conference title for the fourth year in a row.
The Panthers earned their trip to state by winning the Oshkosh West Sectional on Thursday, Oct. 4. SPASH was dominating at times at the sectional and finished with 41 points (24 of which it earned at the sub-sectionals) and finished nine points ahead of second-place Wisconsin Rapids.
Schmidt said the team caught a break at sectionals because the seeding put the two toughest teams at opposite ends of the bracket, allowing them both to rack up points on weaker opponents. "You always need a little luck," she said.
In addition to the Panthers making the team meet, SPASH is sending No. 1 singles player Lauren Hom and the No. 1 doubles teams of Jill Saddison and Alexis Edberg and the No. 2 team of Jackie Baier and Jenna Weinbauer to the State Individual Meet in Madison Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Oct 11-13.
Hom will be making her second straight trip to the State Individual Meet and Schmidt said that Hom's trip to state last year was a motivating factor for the team.
Hom has also taken more of a leadership role on the squad this year, despite the fact that she isn't a team captain.
Before sectionals Hom gave each team member and coach a letter she had written. The letter said the team should be confident and that their best chance to go to state was now. It also emphasized the importance of team unity.
"When you have that driving force, it carries over to the rest of the team. It sets the tone," Schmidt said.
While the team plays with confidence, the coaches emphasize playing the game the right way. "Our team does not swagger. We're trying to get them to be confident, but not arrogant," assistant coach Jan Pierson said.
Pierson said the team doesn't play mind games and just goes out to play. That will be important going into state as usually there are no officials for the matches and the players have to call their own shots in or out.
"They're just an honest group of kids," Pierson said. "They're going to go out and have fun and that's always been our main goal."
Schmidt said she was "cautiously optimistic about her team's (and individuals') chance at state. She said Hom should have a relatively easy time in the early rounds as she has a first-round bye and No. 1 players play against No. 2 players in the early rounds.
That's also the format in the doubles matches, which Schmidt said would be an advantage to her No. 1 team. Despite the fact that that means the No. 2 doubles team will have to play a No. 1, Schmidt said she felt her No. 2 team had a good chance as well.
"Our No. 2 doubles team could be playing number one at almost any other school," she said.
Schmidt said her team's best chance was just sticking to the basics."It's always been a very simple coaching philosophy, you cut down on the mistakes and you force the other team to win the points with winners, which is a lot harder. Most athletes at this level win points with unforced errors," Schmidt said. "If we can play within ourselves and limit our mistakes we have a good chance."
She also said the fact that some team members would get a taste of the atmosphere at the state tournament from the individual competition would be an advantage for the whole team.
Regardless of the outcome at the tournaments, Schmidt said the season was a success. "It's a bonus to go to state, anything we win from this point is icing on the cake," she said. "This season has been more than fun. Euphoric is probably the best way to describe it."