Although the WHS tennis season ended in regionals last week, coach Brendan Praeger said there was still a lot to celebrate this year. “Outside of one senior who had played for four years, we had a very inexperienced team this year, with three freshmen and three players who had played very little varsity. They made tremendous strides throughout the season and were all competitive at the end of the season,” Praeger said.
Ready for regionals | Tennis team prepares for postseason meet at Hillsboro
The tennis team travels to Hillsboro Friday to compete in this year’s regional competition. The meet takes place Friday and Saturday, with the majority of the small team competing. Senior Mayah Mumpower and junior Baylie Tharman will compete in singles, while freshmen Meredith Denton and Ava Huske will join senior Sarah Vanstory and junior Danielle Murphy in doubles.
Small tennis squad starts season with strong singles performance
The tennis team opened its season Thursday at Wamego, with both singles players bringing home medals. Senior Mayah Mumpower went 4-0 to place first in #1 singles and sophomore Baylie Tharman went 2-2 to finish second in #2 singles. Though the team numbers are a little lower than usual, coach Brendan Praeger sees this as an opportunity to improve. “We graduated 7 people, so initially we dealt with small team issues. As we continued, this pushed players to work harder. These players can just get in more reps, and I’ve seen the younger players improve a lot more quickly than in previous seasons.”