Inexperienced Mission tennis squads gearing up for divisionals
FIRST YEAR Mission High School tennis player Tine Toemkoa works on serving during a Bulldogs' practice. Toemkoa wil enter his first-ever Class B-C Divisional Thursday at Ronan High School. (Jason Blasco/Lake County Leader)
MISSION TENNIS player Warren Castor works on fundamental mechanics at a Mission High School tennis tournament. (Jason Blasco/Lake County Leader)
Bulldogs, Lady Bulldogs’ coach Kimimi Ashley said most of her young players have only played the sport of tennis for what is equivalent to less than a high school semester.
“All of my players are very nervous and the majority of them have never been to something like this,” Ashley said. “This is a completely new experience for them and I’ve been trying to tell them to just do what they’ve been doing.”
As the inexperienced Bulldogs, Lady Bulldogs prep for their first Divisionals, Ashley said she “will not” amplify the intensity of her team’s practice.
“I don’t think I am going to really change anything getting ready for Divisionals,” Ashley said. “I am going to do everything the same as I’ve done throughout the whole year. I am a pretty laid back person and I just want to go out and teach them every time as I think of what each person needs. I try to pound into their head the skills that they’ve learned. Hopefully, when Thursday comes around, they will be ready.”
Making up for their lack of experience and building confidence on the court has been Ashley’s primary focus.
In order to achieve this Ashley built a couple of doubles team in order to improve the confidence and make up for her team’s lack of experience.
On the boys side, she took her two top singles players and combined them into a doubles tandem. Ashley combined Warren Castor and Tine Toemkoa into a doubles team.
The move has paid off as they rattled off six straight victories.
“They were the No. 1 and No. 2 singles players on the boys team and throughout the whole year, they approached me about playing as team,” Ashley said. “I think this is one of those instances where there is friendship and compatibility with each other, and the two players haven’t lost anything since. Now that they are on the court together, they are enjoying it and that chemistry has made a difference. Now, they don’t want to be out there playing tennis by themselves.”
Ashley attributes the team’s level of success to their “passion” for the sport.
“Warner is just in his third year and he’s new,” Ashley said. “I’ve seen it happen before where they’ve gotten fourth in the state. Playing tennis with one of your best friends changes the way you play. I think the kids like the social part of the game and they have really started to play just to enjoy the sport.”
Several of the Lady Bulldog tennis players have started to develop on the court, according to Ashley.
Ashley credited Lady Bulldogs’ player Tori Peterson as one of the players that has really started to develop her game towards the later portion of the year.
Ashley built her doubles team in a similar fashion to her boys’ team. She combined her No. 1 and No. 2 players Elsa Kylen and Arianna Rossi.
“I think my No. 1 girl (Kylen) can get every single ball and have 50 to 60 ball rallies,” Ashley said. “Rossi hasn’t played very much or been at many practices because she has been a club volleyball player during the season. Even though she’s been a club volleyball player, she gets it right away. Whether or not she makes it to state remains to be seen but hopefully she steps up and makes it into the top 4. I am looking forward to that.”
Another doubles team Ashley built consists of Esslinger and Stensrud.
“I just started playing them like two or three weeks ago and all four of them practice for an hour a couple of days,” Ashley said. “There is a high percentage thing in doubles matches. We’ve been working on the placement of the ball and working on the doubles games.”
Because of her team’s lack of numbers, she is hoping to just finish strong at Divisionals and hoping several members of her team qualify for state.
Though Ashley said she doesn’t have the numbers to make it to state as a team, she remains “optimistic.”
“They have had a really good year,” Ashley said. “There are only six boys on the team total and they all get to go to Divisionals. We just want to place as high as we can.”
As both the girls and boys team prepare to head into Divisionals, there is a 60-percent chance of rain in the forecast for Thursday. Ashley said she felt that is all part of adapting to the game of tennis.
“There is a mental toughness and that comes with the game of tennis,” Ashley said. “Regardless of the weather, tennis is one of those games that you don’t have to have a time clock on it. You just keep fighting until the very end.”