West Holmes tennis a little different. A little better?
By Bill Houston
August 16, 2011
589
Three losses and a State runner-up finish, I think theres a lot to improve on, joked ninth-year West Holmes head girls tennis coach Jason Otto, after watching 2010 Division II State runner-up Rachel Nelson dominate her first two matches of her junior season, knocking off Central Christians Anna Yovichin 6-0, 6-0, on Monday, August 15, before duplicating the double-bagel victory, 6-0, 6-0, over Maddie Zupan the following night at Mansfield St. Peters.
But then, looking ahead toward upcoming matches later in the season, against players like longtime nemesis Courtney Earnest of Ohio Cardinal Conference rival Lexington -- who knocked off Nelson at the 2010 OCC Tournament, before falling to the Lady Knights sophomore in the semifinal round of the State tourney -- Ottos tone turned a little more serious.
I told her this is the time to start trying some things, explained Otto. She doesnt like to slice, she doesnt like to drop shot, things like that. I said, Why not try them, at least a couple points here and there, when you have a comfortable lead, just to try to mix things up when you play a Courtney or someone like that?
And so far there were a couple times I saw that she tried. She always smiles when she tries something different.
Usually a stickler for maneuvering his seven varsity pieces around like a grand master chess player, to create matchup advantages for the Lady Knights, Otto also decided to try a little something different this year, and so far the results have brought a big smile to his face, and the faces of all West Holmes tennis fans, after the Lady Knights picked up 5-0 victories over the Lady Comets and Lady Spartans, while capturing every single set along the way.
Theres seven varsity spots, but you cant have challenge matches to fill those spots until the official first day of practice, explained Otto. So we had them for a couple of days and there were nine girls who were all right there. After Rachel, there were two who kind of stood out, but the other four or five were all pretty interchangeable.
I asked the girls, Do you want to continue with the challenge matches and well just take the top seven, even if the bottom two are close, or do you want to rotate the bottom four or five in and out so you all get to play varsity?
Every single one of them voted for that.
Including returning senior Miranda Huebner, who opened the season at second-doubles with junior playing-partner Chelsea Black -- beating Central Christians number two pairing of Jo Ellen Eades and MaLiza Miller 6-0, 6-1 and knocking off the St. Petes duo of Shelby Stein and Janay Saunders 6-4, 6-4 -- but who will lose playing time when Otto turns to the all-sophomore team of Morgan Wagers and Savannah Yoder at second doubles.
It was a huge sacrifice from the senior, whose victory with Black over the Lady Spartans pairing was also a huge win for the Lady Knights, who lost to St. Peters a year ago -- their first loss to a non-conference opponent since 2008.
Last night was a big win, explained Otto, who also conceded, I knew Central [Catholic] was down this year, after watching senior Brittany Polen win 6-0, 6-0 at second singles, junior Marki Hogle 6-0, 6-0 at third singles, and seeing junior Hannah Frank knock off the Lady Comets top pairing of Ann Carracher and Emily Stewart 6-4, 6-3, with new playing partner Jena Polen, after reaching Districts with departed senior Rachel Koch a year ago.
I think theres probably 10 teams we should beat, and theres about six or seven that are going to be close, added the former Triway tennis player. And that was one of them, so for us to win that convincingly was nice. A convincing victory thanks to some chess-piece maneuvering by Otto who got a 6-1, 6-1 victory from Hogle, after moving her up to first singles; a 6-1, 6-0 victory from Frank at third singles; and a 6-4, 6-3 first doubles victory by the Polen twins, who reached Districts as a doubles pairing in 2010.
I thought last year when they played us, they knew we had Rachel so they put their best team at second doubles and thats how they beat us. I thought its going to be another close one tonight, but for us to go there and win 5-0 without dropping a set was very impressive.
A very impressive and very different result from a year ago, created just by trying something a little different.
And that has everybody smiling.
