The Lady Pioneer tennis squad is pictured from left, front row, Kailey Blackburn, Hailey Moran, Lauren Renner, Erica Beachy, Kate Kelly, Brooklyn Banks and Bailey Bliss; second row, Chloe Sullivan, Ella Sloat, Callie Jenkins, Emma Snell, Peyton Crownover, Morgan Liening, Makayla Coopus and Ashlei Kelley; back row, Megan Krummrey, Molly Stevens, Natalie Wagner, coach Bryan Deeken, Lauryn Robbins, Lauren Vaughn and Lindsey Garman. Not pictured Hannah Yates. (Photo submitted)
Jonathan Alder’s girls tennis team has a new head coach in Bryan Deeken.
He replaces long-time head coach Brett Fuller.
The Lady Pioneers are coming off a 12-2 record, which was good for second place in the Central Buckeye Conference during the 2020 campaign.
Chloe Sullivan and Brooklyn Banks are the lone returning lettermen from last year.
Sullivan played second singles in 2020, while Banks was at second doubles.
“Chloe and Brooklyn will be leaders of the team and will both likely be playing varsity singles for us,” said Deeken.
The Lady Pioneers have five wide-open spots going into the 2021 campaign.
Seniors Molly Stevens, Erica Beachy and Ashlei Kelly will vie for starting roles.
Also contending for playing time will be juniors Morgan Liening, Makayla Coppus and Lauren Renner and sophomore Ella Sloat.
“We are excited about the big turnout for the team in general,” said Deeken.
“We’re returning a lot of tennis experience; even if it’s not a lot of varsity experience,” the coach said. “We have a lot of senior and junior athletes who I think will be competitive at the varsity level.”
Deeken will look for players to replace a pair of All-CBC doubles teams in Eliza and Abigail Watkins and Ali Craig and Maddie Wilson.
“It’s always tough to graduate all-conference players, but we’re confident we’ll be competitive,” he said.
“I’m new to coaching girls tennis in the CBC, so I’m really excited to see how we compete in the conference.”
Deeken said the team has talked about a handful of goals for the 2021 season.
“We want to be better tennis players at the end of the season than we were at the beginning,” he said. “We want to be fair and courteous to our opponents, but also compete to our highest ability level.
“We’re hoping to have a good finish in the conference and as always, have a lot of fun while doing it.”