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HILLSBORO:   Tennis hopes to send more to state

Weber wants to be more aggressive as she works to return to state

Staff writer

Hillsboro girls’ tennis coach Bob Woelk hopes to send more players to state this season.

Last season junior Allison Weber attended state and placed fifth in single play.

“She’s a very good player, this is the second year she has qualified for state,” Woelk said.

Weber placed sixth in doubles her freshman year.

“Allison has the skills to qualify again and we fully expect to return to the team this year,” Woelk said. “She’s a great player and has a good record.

“She needs to work on finishing points early and make the kill shots.”

Weber worked some over the summer on hitting more winners. She doesn’t want to just play defense, waiting for her opponents to make a mistake.

“I want to force them to mess up,” Weber said.

She played a bit over the summer against her mother and her sister, but not as much as she might have liked because of conflicts with summer softball.

Woelk also expects three other players to return — junior Claire Heyen and sophomores Allison Gray and Hannah Funk. All three have varsity experience. Woelk hopes they get more experience.

“The big issue we have for this season is the lack of experience,” he said. “I hope that throughout the season they can build confidence and be real contenders for state.”

The team will have no seniors this season.

“We have a young team,” Woelk said. “We need to build confidence and need to develop a winning attitude.”

He said he is looking forward to the return of Gray.

“She improved quite a bit last season,” he said. “I’m excited to see how much she improves this year.”

The tennis team has a short season. By state mandate, teams can only play in seven tournaments plus regionals.

They open their season at home Sept. 3.

“We’ll have six teams coming to compete,” Woelk said.

Woelk hopes to build experience before the meet.

“We often compete against schools that are bigger than us,” he said. “We have to work hard to cover that gap.”

Schedule

  • Sept. 3: Hillsboro Invitational against five teams, 3:30 p.m.
  • Sept. 5: At Sterling, 3 p.m.
  • Sept. 12: At Smoky Valley, 10 a.m. in Lindsborg.
  • Sept. 14: Hesston Invitational against seven teams, 9 a.m.
  • Sept. 26: At home against seven teams, 3:30 p.m.
  • Oct. 1: At Ellsworth, 3 p.m.
  • Oct. 5: Central Kansas League tournament, 9 a.m. at Pratt.
  • Oct. 8: At Abilene, 1 p.m.
  • Oct. 11: Regionals at site to be determined.
  • Oct 12: Regionals at site to be determined.
  • Oct. 18: State at Pratt.
  • Oct. 19: State at Pratt.

Last modified Aug. 21, 2013

 

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