Mission tennis sets sights on trip to state
Meike Abmann, a foreign exchange student at Mission, works on her swing at a recent practice. Zach Urness/Leader
By Karen Peterson
Leader Staff
ST. IGNATIUS — The Mission tennis team is young this year, with the majority of the players being freshmen, but what they lack in experience they make up for in enthusiasm, and they’ve got a few returning seniors to back them up.
“The team is very coachable,” noted head coach Martin Ashley. “This is the best first week I’ve had in all of my years of coaching.”
Martin Ashley has coached tennis for 15 years and his wife, assistant coach Kimimi Ashley, has been coaching high school tennis for the past three years. Together they’ve coached the Mission tennis team to state over the past few years and last year the boys took second place.
This year, “it’s a whole new team,” said Kimimi Ashley. “We’ve got 21 kids this year and many of them are freshmen.”
On the boys team, Casey Cable is the only returning senior this year.
“He should do pretty well,” Ashley said of Cable, who led the team last year.
Twelve of the team members are girls and Ashley says that they are going to be competitive this year.
“Barb Pfeifer and Frankie Frazzini are our returning girls. The girls team is going to be strong,” she said.
Wyatt McCollum and Clayton Make Peace are sophomores on the boys team this year but they played varsity last year.
“They are both tough again this year,” Ashley said.
The season opener is March 30, in Polson at 3 p.m, and only the boys play. Both the boys and the girls play the following Saturday in Loyola at 10 a.m.
“The field is wide open this year so we are going to see how they do,” Ashley said.