Inexperienced Bulldogs squad hoping for late-season run

The Bulldogs are set to have three boys on their squad including returner Warren Castor, who placed fourth at Divisionals last season.

Another player that will be a new addition to the Bulldogs is Beau Peterson.

“He is just a freshman, late in the season and he has only been with us for about a week,” Ashley said. “He is really new to the game.”

Ashley said she “enjoys the challenge” of getting newer players acclimated to the game.

“Our players go through the same training as experienced players,” Ashley said. “None of them have perfect form and you need to really start working on form when you start playing the game of tennis. You have to learn how to keep the ball going. I just enjoy teaching tennis because when I am on the tennis court, this is my happy place. I love passing that onto the kids and seeing them all grow as the season goes on.”

The Bulldogs also have foreign exchange student Piyawat Tine Toemkoa, from China, who is a converted ping pong player, and making his transition into tennis.

With Castor being the most experienced player, Ashley knows her team will go through tough periods during the season. Because of the lack of experience, Ashley said she is hoping to “peak” at Divisionals.

“Warren is still only a junior this year and he is the most experienced player on our team,” Ashley said. “Last year, we were more seasoned than this year’s team.”

The Bulldogs will not field enough players to fill out an entire varsity roster. In order to have a full varsity roster, a team must have eight, according to MHSA regulations.

“You really can’t pay attention or ever judge team scores,” Ashley said. “You just have to continue to work on your game throughout the year. Towards the end by tournament time, then you start gauging yourself against others. We can’t judge ourselves against other teams because we are so small.”

Lady Bulldogs hope to fill whole varsity roster

Unlike their male counterparts, the Mission Lady Bulldogs are one player shy of fielding a complete varsity team.

According to Ashley, the Mission Lady Bulldogs are still looking for that player in order to fill the roster.

“It helps a lot throughout the year that other teams have a full varsity roster but that makes it hard to play other teams that have all of those kids that play only one or two matches,” Ashley said. “Because of our lack of numbers, it makes your kids play more matches.”

The Lady Bulldogs will have only one returner on a team filled with inexperienced players.

“Our team has a roster filled with players that are brand new to the game and have never played before,” Ashley said. “Three of them have never picked up a racket. This year will go a little slower than last season because we will be spending so much time on form.”

Ashley said her team is still looking for players to join the Mission Lady Bulldogs team to try to fill out a whole team.

“Those kids can advance individually and the more chances you have at getting those points, it makes a big difference,” Ashley said.