Young group will lead Highland High School girls tennis team this fall
For the first time in several seasons, Highland girls tennis coach Matt Pellock will have a varsity roster loaded with freshmen and sophomore players as the Lady Bulldogs look to play a schedule that will hopefully be free of the restrictions of last year’s COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is one of our years where we’re not quite sure what to expect at the top because there’s going to be so many new players,” HHS coach Matt Pellock said. “So, we’re hoping that our senior-junior group that has experience can do well playing top numbers.”
Returning for the Lady Bulldogs are seniors Krista Rittenhouse, Katie Augustine, and junior Addison Krask.
Other top returners for Highland include seniors Lauren Herman, Brady McKinley, and Nicole Bluhm from a squad that in 2020 finished second in the Mississippi Valley Conference singles and doubles tournaments, and fourth in the IHSA Class 1A Central Sectional.
“They are our most experienced group coming back and they had a lot of doubles and tournament play experience last year,” Pellock said.
Augustine, Crask, Rittenhouse, Herman, McKinley, and Bluhm are expected to round out the singles flights.
Rittenhouse will be the lone question mark due to an offseason lower leg injury she recently suffered that will at least disrupt her season.
“We’ll see what happens with her, but we’re expecting her to be more of a kind of coach (rather than playing) this season,” Pellock said.
McKinley, Herman, Crask, and Bluhm are expected to compete in the doubles flights as well.
Pellock also hopes for big things from his underclassmen as the large group features 10 freshmen eager to prove they belong on the courts.
“There will be a really large group of sophomores and freshmen this year for us, and it’s exciting to have that kind of group that’s young. We’ll kind of see how everybody looks coming back (to practice),” Pellock said.
One freshman who should contribute right away is Sophie Fleming. The younger sister of former HHS standout Taylor Fleming, Sophie is primed to help the rotation wherever she is asked to play.
“We have some good (young) players who have come in such as Sophie Fleming as a freshman. Sophie’s played a decent amount of tennis coming into the season, so she’ll be part of that mix, too,” Pellock said.
Schedule highlights, season opener
The Lady Bulldogs are set to play a full schedule that includes tournaments such as the Alton Invitational on Saturday, Aug. 21; the Edwardsville Invitational on Friday Sept. 3; and the Highland Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 11.
Overall, Pellock believes this group is positioned to excel this season.
“This group should be capable of playing winning tennis and, hopefully, we get in our full schedule because last year we missed a lot of tournaments (because of COVID),” Pellock said. “This will be a lot of tennis that these girls have not encountered.”
Highland opens the season at the aforementioned Alton Invitational Tournament.