Coupeville Sports

Wolf boys’ tennis coach Ken Stange dances into a new season.

The king is gone. Let the war to replace him begin.

With the graduation of perennial #1 player Nathan Lamb and his equally trusty sidekick, Ben Wehrman, there is a big hole at the top of the lineup for the Coupeville High School boys’ tennis squad.

Expect that hole to be filled, quickly, however, as the Wolves return 13 players with varsity experience (one of whom is injured at the moment) who will slug it out to lead CHS in 2013.

At the top of the list is junior Aaron Curtin and seniors Ben Etzell and Brian Norris.

Toss in seniors Jason Knoll and Brandon Kelley and fast-rising sophomore Sebastian Davis, who actually played in the top singles spot at last year’s district tourney when Lamb moved to doubles, and you almost have a complete eight-man varsity lineup made up of players who saw significant varsity court time in 2012.

That’s where things will get interesting, though, as six other players with some prior varsity experience (seniors Cameron Boyd-Eck and Jake McCormick, junior Kyle Bodamer and sophomores Jared Helmstadter, Connor McCormick and Loren Nelson) will also be fighting for key spots.

Sophomore Shane Squire also has prior varsity experience, but is currently injured, while sophomore Dalton Martin is making the jump from football after a series of concussions ended his gridiron dreams.

“Dalton is very athletic and is picking the game up nicely,” said Wolf coach Ken Stange. “He could make a move toward the top.”

The logjam will be partially broken when Coupeville holds an inter-squad singles tourney before the season begins. A big question will be whether presumed top ace Curtin will play singles, or team with Etzell as a doubles duo.

“We may form a doubles team comprised of baseball stars who moonlight as big hitting killer tennis players!,” said an excited Stange.

Which just three other teams in their league — powerhouse South Whidbey, Friday Harbor (which is struggling to fill a roster) and Archbishop Thomas Murphy, which is in the first year of its program — the Wolves will look to build their most intense rivalry on their own practice courts.

Succeeding in that will help Coupeville now, and down the road.

“I want to work on having twelve or more guys work feverishly to be in the top eight!,” Stange said. “I want to help the more advanced players grow into consistent players who can deliver the point for the team. I want to help the newer players grow their games, so they can step up and replace the seniors.”