|
Okay, so we're back for another year and we're better than last year. I was not anticipating this part. I knew we'd be strong in the top half thanks to our 1-2 punch at the top of the lineup...I just didn't expect we'd manage to get some depth on top of that.
Here's our provisional lineup:
For context, last year we had the Top 3 players in the conference all on our squad. This year, we bring all 3 of them back and we added a 4th player who is better than our #3.
Anyway, so now heading into opening day we've got the Top 4 players in the conference (conference/league/district are used synonymously in this dynasty...because Oregon stupidly conflates leagues with state districts) and the challenge is deciding who among them will play 1st doubles, as are the rules in our particular league. (The league I coached in during my season as a 6A coach had no such restrictions)
Singles ladder:
Top Gun #1: (12) Defending district singles champ; has never lost a dual match in HS, lost in the quarterfinals at state during her 9th grade year.
Top Gun #2: (12) Defending district doubles champ; 3rd in state at singles her 9th grade year; has never lost a dual match in HS.
The Transfer: (12) Burst onto the scene last year, having only played JV tennis as a boarding school before joining our squad and immediately becoming the best player who wasn't a Top Gun. Mostly was our #1 player all year, because I had the Top Guns sit out most of last year to give the other girls experience (since there was no state) and she made the quarterfinals at state last year. Has never lost a HS match.
New Kid On The Block: (11) NKOTB was a junior I've been trying to get onto the team since her freshman year. She finally relented this year thanks to her best friend being on the team, and also because I mostly nagged her and her mom about it for 3 years before they finally decided okay fine she can play. She's immediately our 3rd best player, even better than The Transfer
and my goal is to keep it interesting enough for her that she sticks around, because having her on our squad gives us depth that we never anticipated having. She essentially replaced the girl who played 1st doubles for us last year (two-time state qualifier) but is better than she was, which is bonkers. Ideally, she'll get some reps at singles this year, just because I know she prefers it and I think getting The Transfer & Top Gun 2 paired together as a 1st doubles team will be unbeatable.
The Captain (11) After her unexpected run to the district semis last year (she lost to Top Gun 1) I named her captain before the season even ended, which I knew the girls would approve of. She's a hard-hitting volleyball player who has turned herself into a very good tennis player and would be a solid contributor on even a 6A team, even if she's not a circuit playing everyday tennis player like my Top 3 players. Still, she's gonna be a linchpin for us. Ideally, we can find a doubles pairing for her that'll enable her to go further at state than just one round, because that's the conundrum for us.
The Rookie (9) On the first day of practice, there were two girls in JV practice who stood out and the JV coach identified them immediately. Turns out, one of them had lessons before and immediately established herself. Her running mate is a step below, but still quite good and both are immediately good enough to be in our regular lineup. Given we were missing two varsity starters on opening day, to replace them was nice. The Rookie benefits from being on a team that's so good that she can play in a spot where she can grow her confidence as the season goes on. Right now, I have her penciled in to play 2nd doubles with The Captain. I think they could qualify for state together, but we'll need to see how the pairing works as the regular season goes on.
Besides this crew, we're bringing back the rest of the starters from last year including three solid singles players (two juniors and one sophomore), the aforementioned newbie 9th grader, a rough-around-the-edges but tenacious senior doubles player and a duo of volleyball players turned tennis players who were an excellent pairing for us as utility players last year.
I also have a "project" in the form of a D1 volleyball signee and her bestie from the volleyball team who want to play (since so many volleyball girls on the tennis team) and who have been clearly working on their games some. They're very rough, but have strokes already and can serve. The JV coach is going to take them and I'm going to tell them that they have a few weeks to work the bugs out, because I'd love to use them as my 4th doubles team. Both are over 6' tall and would scare the daylights out of most opponents purely just from the optics, haha.
One of the complaints last year was that the lineup shifted too much, so I'm trying to come up with two relatively static lineups that the girls can sort of rely on. Challenges matches would be a normal way to deal with this on most normal tennis teams -- and we might use them some -- but this team is so even after you get past the Top 4 players that it doesn't matter that much, because depending on the day, you'd probably get a different result among them. Also, since regular season matches don't matter that much, so long as you're not stacking, it's all pretty subjective anyway.
We'll play 12 matches this year, 11 in the league and I managed to get us a non-conference match against a 6A school in two weeks. This makes me happy, because we were otherwise going to go from mid-March through March 31st before our first match, which I always find difficult.
The boys team gets to travel to an overnight tournament, but we were not invited to one. I'm not super surprised by this and I'm mostly okay with it, I don't really want to be scouted by the opposition anyway and I'm just adamant about keeping this team healthy into districts and state. My best players mostly play enough matches anyway that I'm not too worried about getting them tougher competition, though I wish it were possible in just regular season matches but oh well.
Districts/State Thinking Ahead
Whoever you slot into the singles/doubles brackets at Districts are who you are fixed into for state if they qualify. So there's going to be some decision-making coming down the road as to what makes the most sense for us. Right now, there are a bunch of different permutations that could work out for us, I'm just most interested in ensuring we have the best chances to win the state title.
I think the regular season will give us a better indication of whether it makes sense of what doubles combos would be best, and whether we'll be able to unleash the full weight of our singles players onto the tournament.
|