There are plenty of familiar names on the Aberdeen Central tennis squad, but all of them will be in new positions this spring.
The Golden Eagles have just one returning player with much varsity experience this season.
“It’s kind of weird not having any seniors. We’ve got no seniors, only one or two ninth-graders. We have a big group of sophomores and a big group of juniors,” said Central coach Trent Kurtz. “A lot of inexperience. Some names that have been around, but will bumped up to varsity action.”
While the Eagles might be short on varsity experience, they are no strangers to the court. Most of the players spent hours during the offseason honing their skills.
“Really fun group of kids, they’re working really hard,” Kurtz said. “Probably our best offseason, our best summer. Seeing a lot of improvement so far.”
The one returning player with plenty of experience is AJ Prehn, who will make major contributions for Central on and off the court.
“We kind of named him captain at the end of the year last year, just because he was the lone guy coming back, but he’s got natural leadership skills. He’s a great leader,” Kurtz said. “Not only is he the guy they look up to, because he’s got a lot of varsity experience, he’s just got a natural leadership characteristic to him. He plays other sports, he’s had success in other sports.”
The team will also be bolstered by Mason Ligon, who will be focusing full time on tennis this spring.
“He’s been out the last couple years, but just kind of the last couple of months of the year. He’s been doing the school musical, so he’s playing tennis this year,” Kurtz said. “He’s put in a lot of time over the offseason. I expect him to be up near the top, one of our top guys.”
Other members who could play significant roles this year include Aric Tennant, Dawson Pederson, Gannon Pederson, Mika Dannen, Brock Anderson, Josiah Grandpre, and Carson Goethels.
Kurtz, who has an affinity for doubles, expects this year’s team to be strong in that area.
“I really think doubles will be our strength. We got a lot better at it here the last year or two. As much as we emphasize it, as much as I love it, it was never a strength of ours my first 6-8 years that I was here,” Kurtz said. “We spent a lot of time on it. It’s also … kind of their style of play, it’s starting to fit their style of play more. So I really do think doubles will be a strength.”
Kurtz said the players have shown a tendency to be more aggressive, which lends itself to the doubles game.
“I think we have more guys that are comfortable coming up to the net, whether it’s singles or doubles,” Kurtz said, “and that just carries over to our doubles play.”
The Eagles open their season today and tomorrow with matches out in Rapid City.
Kurtz said because of the team’s youth, he hasn’t really talked much about season goals so far.
“Right now, it’s just figure out who our lineup is going to be before our first match this week, see where we’re at,” Kurtz said. “We always want to be in the top three at ESD, top half at state, but I haven’t really set any team goals or anything like that. We’re so young right now. We just want to see where we’re at.”
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