The Green River High School Boys and Girls Tennis teams' season got underway Monday, August 8 with the start of practice under veteran Head Coach Phil Harder.
The varsity teams will have fourteen regular season matches against their Wyoming rivals, with six of the matches being home games and eight away games. All fourteen of the regular season matches will be completed by September 9, with Regionals scheduled to take place September 15 and 16 at Cheyenne South High School. State will take place Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the following week, September 21 - 23, in Gillette.
The girls team returns quite a few familiar faces from last year, along with some new faces as well, according to Coach Harder. Harder commented: "We shall see how the round robin competition shakes things up and who we have."
Brianna Strauss is returning to play #1 Singles as she did last year, and the team will have some new players in new positions as well. Coach Harder indicated that Hannah Skinner, Lily Harris, Jocelyn Peterson, Raygan Cochrun and Grace Gomez all are returning from last year's team and that "there are some newcomers that will be competing for a spot on the varsity."
For the boys team, according to Coach Harder, there is considerably less experience with a brand new look and a lot of new faces. Chris Wilson was one of their number one doubles players of last year who played for the #2 State Doubles title, so he brings some valuable experience. Others bringing back their experience include the team's top JV Doubles team of Dylan Archibald and Jake Nielsen. After that the coach notes they "have lots of new young and exciting faces."
The teams got off to a mixed start at the season opener against the powerful Jackson teams on August 12. The girls lost 3-2, but Green River's #1 and #2 Singles players Brianna Strauss and Grace Gomez won their matches. All three doubles teams lost their games. The Wolves boys were swept by the powerful Jackson team 5-0.
The following Tuesday, August 15, Strauss was the only winner for the girls as Thunder Basin beat the Lady Wolves 4-1. The Green River boys fell 3-2, and all three doubles teams lost. However, Green River's #1 Singles player Chris Wilson and their #2 Singles player Dylan Archibald both won their matches.
Also on August 15, the girls were victorious against Campbell Country, defeating them 4-1. The boys also won their team competition, winning 3-2.
On the road again Friday, August 18, the girls lost to Cody 4-1 while the boys were shut out 5-0. Later that day the teams competed against Powell, with the girls coming away victorious 4-1 while the younger boys team was once again shut out 5-0.
After the first five meets of the season Coach Harder offered the following comments: "We have started with some great non-conference matchups to get the kids tuned up for our conference season. We have a younger group of boys who are feeling their way through Varsity skill levels and starting to adjust to the pace of play real well. They are led by Chris Wilson and Dylan Archibald at the singles position as expected and are playing and competing in some tight matches."
The Coach went on to observe, "The girls team has been playing well and has picked up some nice team victories the past two weeks. Brianna Strauss has led the way for them at #1 Singles and is playing well and figuring out her game ahead of our conference matchups."
Finally, Harder notes, "We have work to do on both girls and boys teams but our kids are coachable and sponging up what we are telling them to do and that will pay dividends down the road for us as the season progresses."
The Tennis team will resume play this Friday, August 25, against Kelly Walsh and Natrona County on the road. These games will be followed by two more road match ups the following week against Rawlins on Thursday, August 31 and then on the road at Laramie on Saturday, September 2. The Wolves will host Rock Springs at home on Tuesday, September 5. Green River then takes on Torrington on the road at Laramie before ending the regular season at home against the three Cheyenne schools.
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