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Friday, Mar. 29, 2024

Preview: 2020 Van Wert Cougars tennis

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

Note: The status of high school spring sports in Ohio remains up in the air due to COVID-19. However, in the coming days, the VW independent is proceeding with previews of Van Wert County spring athletic teams.

Despite losing first and third singles players to graduation, Van Wert returns a good deal of talent for the 2020 boys’ tennis season. Now, the big question is if and when things will get underway.

Kannen Wannemacher (first singles, 13-13) and Michael Hellman (third singles, 14-8) are the two starters who graduated, while a third senior, Brendan Browning saw time on the court as well.

Two-time letter winner Nick Carter is back for Van Wert. Playing second doubles and third singles last year, Carter went 19-7. VW independent file photo

However, head coach Alex Schmidt has eight returning letter winners at his disposal, including senior Zane Fast, a three year letterman who went 14-6 at second singles last season. Classmate Nick Carter, a two-time letterman, played second doubles and third singles last year and went a combined 19-7. Senior Nathan Ruger and junior Kaden Thomas have both lettered twice and the two played first doubles, going 12-14 and qualifying for district competition last season.

The remaining letter winners are sophomore Jace Fast (20-6 at second doubles); sophomore Sam Moonshower (1-0, doubles); junior Micah Rager (7-1 at various spots), and senior Cody Gamble (2-0, doubles).

“This year we have the luxury of having quite a few returning players who have varsity experience,” Schmidt said. “Zane Fast has the most singles experience, and we have a few other players vying for the other singles positions. Nick Carter, Micah Rager, Cody Gamble, and Jace Fast have all shown promise and are competing for the singles spots.”

“Nathan Ruger and Kaden Thomas are looking to pair up for doubles again, while there are a number of players, including Nick, Micah, Cody, Jace and Sam who are very solid doubles players.”

“Having a very deep team like we have this year. is critical. The players all know that they need to compete hard everyday to get better because there are spots up for grabs. The competition in practices and challenge matches helps push our players to get better and more prepared for match atmosphere. It is also important that we have players who are ready to step in if any player were to get injured, or sick throughout the year.”

“Through the last few years we have seen the importance of our JV players stepping in and contributing when needed, and that has significantly helped prepare our players to be in a very competitive spot for this season.”

The Cougars were able to get a handful of practices in before the Ohio High School Athletic Association put spring sports on hold because of COVID-19.

Zane Fast, a three-time letter winner for Van Wert, went 14-6 at the second singles spot in 2019. File photo

“We were able to get a lot of good work in during the week before everything changed,” Schmidt said. “We have a few new players added to our team this year and we are very excited about their potential. We were ready to begin our challenge tournament to help work through figuring out where players would be in our lineup, but had to shut that down prematurely.”

As it stands now, practices are scheduled to resume on May 1, but only if students return to the classroom. If that happens, the schedule would be likely be extremely abbreviated and Schmidt admitted it’s difficult to prepare for the season.

“We are not even sure what the schedule will look like, but our number one concern is making sure our players can stay healthy,” Schmidt said. “We are encouraging our players to be active while still practicing social distancing. Many of our players are working hard at home to stay in shape and keep their bodies prepared for matches if/when we come back.”

“Currently it is not safe for our players to even go to the courts and play. With the stay at home orders and restrictions on school grounds and parks, the tennis courts in our area are unavailable. It has been a struggle from a coaching standpoint, because you want them doing as much as they can to be ready to play, but that is certainly limited during this time.”

“But we have told our players to stay home and do what you can and have sent home activities they can do to stay in shape. Activity and nutrition have been proven to help boost immunity and along with proper social distancing, that is all we can ask our athletes to do to stay safe and healthy.”

If the team is able to play next month, it’s possible it’ll be a Western Buckeye League-only schedule and as always, the WBL offers top-notch competition.

“I expect Elida and Ottawa-Glandorf to be the frontrunners of our league this year, but after that who knows?” Schmidt said. “I believe we can certainly compete with all the teams in our league, and we did well last year, losing to OG, Elida, St Marys and Wapak all 2-3.”

“St. Marys had some very promising young players and could also be considered one of the top contenders. Wapak lost a lot of quality players and could have a down year, but I am not certain what their JV team looks like. Defiance lost some key players, but always has a team that is difficult to beat. Shawnee and Celina should be considerably stronger this year as they both had such young teams last year. Bath was only able to fill 3 spots in their lineup, and I hope they are able to get more players this year and continue to be a part of our league.”

“We feel Van Wert looks strong this year and many of our players put in a lot of hard work getting better this off-season. Regardless of how the season shakes out, this will be a very competitive league and it is always interesting to see how it shakes out. We look forward to getting able to play again soon.”

POSTED: 04/08/20 at 3:53 am. FILED UNDER: Sports