BEMIDJI - After a strong 2014 campaign, the Bemidji High School girls tennis team is looking to continue its success into the 2015 season.
The Lumberjacks will be doing it, however, with a new group of names after graduating their No. 1 singles player and many of their doubles players who helped lead the team to 21 wins a year ago.
“Anytime you lose your No. 1 that’s a big difference in your lineup,” head coach Mark Fodness said. “We’re also losing three senior captains and some very good doubles players we need to replace. It’s going to be a different look this year, but the exciting part is we don’t know what that look is going to be.”
There are six spots in doubles play open and Fodness said he has around 12 players vying for a spot.
His lineup might change from match to match, but he believes the competition will bring the best out of his players.
“(The lineup) is probably as wide open as it has been in a while,” he said. “It’ll be exciting to see and that competition will make us better hopefully as the year goes on.”
The year gets started on Monday when the team travels for the Pine City tournament where Bemidji has had recent success.
The players are looking forward to the meet because it is chance for the team to bond and get the season started.
“We get to spend the night in a hotel with the team,” said senior captain Alexis Konecne. “That’s so much fun and it’s a good way to start the season.”
The players themselves aren’t sure what the team will look like come Monday or later on the season, so the Pine City tournament will give the Lumberjacks a chance to start finding themselves out.
“It’s always fun to do a tournament because we got to play so many matches,” said sophomore captain Abbie Kelm. “This is a good first tournament to start the season with.”
Even though a lot of the names have changed from a season ago, the goals have remained the same.
“Our goal is always to make it to the section final as a team,” Konecne said. “We’ll just see where it goes from there.”
Before Bemidji finds itself in the section finals, it needs to find out who plays well in doubles.
The competition is tight and Konecne believes it is forcing players to step up and fill the lineup.
“A lot of girls are stepping up,” she said. “We need to find our doubles lineup and that’s where the girls are coming up. (Competition) is going well there.”
Many of the players on the team played throughout the summer and began practice right where they left off from the summer sessions.
There isn’t a lot of separation between the girls competing for spots in the lineup
“They are all pretty equal,” Kelm said. “A lot of us played summer tennis and that has helped because now we have the momentum from that season.”
