Coupeville Sports

           Amanda d’Almeida (right), seen last year with doubles mate Lexi Blanchette, will move to singles as a senior.

Tons of players, but not tons of experience.

Coupeville High School girls’ tennis coach Ken Stange will be busy this season, as he welcomes an astonishing 28 players to the hard courts, 19 of whom are in their first year of tennis.

With an expanded base of competitors, led by perennial tennis power South Whidbey dropping from 2A to 1A, the Wolves will get plenty of chances to fine-tune their games. After years of pounding on Friday Harbor and Granite Falls, Coupeville will face off with 2A Cascade Conference mates Archbishop Thomas Murphy and Lakewood as well as 1A Blaine and Chimacum for the first time.

“It’s exciting to play the other schools,” Stange said. “On top of that, we are at home for 10 of 14 matches.

“It’s difficult to anticipate challenges we will face from the schools we’ve never played before,” he added. “I don’t care, though. Our girls will learn from playing against more experienced players. As the year develops, and as we move into subsequent seasons, my players will grow and mature.”

ATM, which has never had a tennis program before, will be led by players who play year-round indoor tennis, while the Falcons are paced by Hayley Newman, who has been to state on a yearly basis. While districts in the past has been a two-team affair with Friday Harbor, now it will incorporate multiple squads.

“I look forward to playing better teams,” Stange said. “Sure, winning 6-0, 6-0 is great, but losing close matches gives players a chance to see what they are made of. Losing blowout matches allows players to see what is possible when one plays year-round.”

While he won’t have the team he might have envisioned a year or two ago (Jessica Riddle is now in Anacortes, Brooke Monroe at Glacier Peak, Hannah Christensen in Oak Harbor and Haley Marx pursuing other sports opportunities), the cupboard is far from bare.

Senior Amanda d’Almeida, a three-time district doubles champ, will move into the top singles slot, which will likely put her on a collision course with Newman.

“This season will be challenging for her at #1 singles, but I think she will rise to the occasion,” Stange said. “She is tenacious and she covers the court more quickly than most.”

Junior Allie Hanigan, who was quite successful after transferring to Coupeville as a sophomore, will vie with Belgian foreign exchange student Iris Ryckaert for the second singles berth, with the runner-up likely teaming with senior Holly Craggs to form the top doubles duo.

The second and third doubles spots are wide open in the early days of practice, with sophomore Julia Myers a huge favorite, if her recovery from knee surgery continues on pace.

Among those expected to be in the fight for varsity spots are senior Emily Gallahar, sophomores Jacki Ginnings, Micky LeVine, Ana Luvera, Ivy Luvera and Maureen Rice and freshmen Sydney Autio and McKenzie Bailey.

The always-upbeat Stange sees this season as a prime teaching year, while still holding on to the hope of surprising folks and getting a couple of his veterans deep into the postseason.

“For the newbies, learn the game the proper way. For the vets, improve upon last year’s abilities. For all, have fun and enjoy a lifetime sport,” Stange said. “I don’t really have any goals in terms of wins and losses. Rather, my goal is for the girls to find continuous improvement in their games while having fun. If our girls play well, they will have the opportunity to win matches.

“That said, I always cherish wins over Friday Harbor,” he added. “It would be nice to steal a win from South Whidbey as well.”

And he can always look to the past for inspiration. In point, a young team that eventually produced the splendid duo of Hannah Merrell and Megan Monroe, who made a run at state before their careers ended.

“This season gives me nearly the exact same feeling I had when the class of 2009 were 9th graders,” Stange said. “The previous year’s team had been loaded with seniors, so I ended up playing a bunch of young rookies. We took our lumps, but by the time those girls were in 11th grade, we were tearing opponents apart.”