Cape tennis teams swing into spring season
Cape girls’ tennis team coach Laurie Carter is guiding her squad into the 2019 season with five seniors and an attitude for improvement.
“I'm very excited to return for the fourth year and coach the team with assistant coach Dave Shook,” said Carter. “We have an amazing group of girls who will be ready to compete this season.”
“I’ve been fortunate enough to play on this team under the same coaches for the last four years,” said senior Maryann Tietbohl, who played first singles last season. “They have really helped me and the team grow and develop as players. We expect to have a lot of fun and be competitive again this year.”
“It’s our last year, so we are going to give it our all,” said senior Taylor Smith. “This is the last sport we will all play together, so we are determined to play hard and capture many wins, and have the great moments to remember forever.”
“I think this season is going to be a really good year for Cape tennis,” said senior Amanda Sponaugle. “This year, all of the varsity returners are already looking better than we were at the end of the last year, and we have only been playing for a week. We are shooting for a state championship this year because none of us will settle for less since that’s what we are used to with hockey.”
The Vikings will open their 2019 campaign Monday, March 25, at home with Milford.
“We want to finish this season as strong as we started,” said senior Marcella Sabbagh. “Maryann started her freshman year, and the rest of the seniors made a choice to try something new our sophomore year. It’s been exciting, and I hope we have made a stronger tennis team for Cape now and in the future.”
Although challenge matches are still ongoing, Carter said she’s certain that Tietbohl, Sponagle, Sabbagh, Smith and Anna Harrington all will return and dominate the court in varsity positions.
“We are thrilled to have so many new faces this year and are anxiously putting our final ladder together in the next week or so,” she said.
The Cape boys are also serving up a good preseason.
“It’s a very inexperienced squad that should be better as the season progresses,” said Cape assistant coach John Myers. “We finished 8-6 last year and should be competitive in most of our conference matches.”
Myers predicts the singles will be Quincy Copeland, a junior transfer from West Virginia; senior Dylan Kaplan, who played second doubles and advanced to conference semifinals last year; and sophomore Adam Meacci, who played exhibition last year.
The candidates for the doubles will come from junior Jack Lee, junior Jackson Curatola, sophomore Max Merwitz, sophomore Justin Atkins, and freshmen Ben Koley and John Southerst.
The Vikings will open their season on the road at Milford Monday, March 25.
