Tennis teams from Chugiak and Eagle River high schools were represented, at least in part, by various team members in the Non-Varsity Jamboree at East High School and the Delaney Park Strip in Anchorage Saturday. Eagle River players competed against East and Dimond high schools, while Chugiak athletes took on players from South, West and Service high schools. Bartlett High School was not represented.
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Chugiak High School freshman Dylan Fullmer moves in for a forehand during the Non-Varsity Jamboree meet at the Delaney Park Strip Saturday. Both Chugiak and Eagle River high schools were scheduled to open their regular season with matches Tuesday and today.
PHOTO BY DAVIS MORSE
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Due to the fact that seniors were allowed to play, the event was tabbed a non-varsity meet, not a junior varsity meet, an important distinction made to the coaches by the district administrator in charge of the sport, Patricia Walker, of South Anchorage High School.
Eagle River's tennis coach, Matt Crockett, the sport's only coach in the three-year history of the school, said the Wolves were well-represented with a dozen athletes attending the three-hour event from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Crockett reported that the Wolves have 22 players on the roster, the majority of whom will be eligible to compete in meets Tuesday and Thursday at Dimond and West, respectively.
The coach said expectations are high for the team's competitive schedule.
“I'm looking forward to a good season. We should be better than we were last year,” he said Sunday. Eagle River won one of 14 matches last year, beating East in the second round.
Crockett said the top Eagle River players to watch are junior Quinn Williamson and sophomores Katie Fogg and Shelby Fuller. “They are the ones who have been playing all summer,” he added.
Just where Crockett will put his players remains to be seen. “I haven't finally decided where the kids are going to play yet,” he said.
He said the team would be busing into Anchorage to practice on the courts at the new Begich Middle School.
One concern that plagues the Wolves is the lack of incoming players. “We only had one freshman turn out this year,” he said.
Numbers are not a problem for the Chugiak Mustang tennis team under co-coaches Sally Cook and David Morse.
Currently the team has more than 30 players, several coming out in the last week.
With only 12 practice days prior to the first match, Morse said some of summer's last flings, such as hunting trips, vacations and camps, will exact a toll on the team's season opener with West Tuesday.
“Right now, it looks like we are going to have to forfeit three matches right off — and that's if players come to their 10th practice on Monday,” Morse said Sunday.
By their second meet, Bartlett at Chugiak today, the team should be complete.
Morse said Chugiak was also well represented at last weekend's jamboree, with 10 athletes.
“We didn't have our varsity players come — we held a practice later in the day for them,” said Morse.
The coach said the team has a good infusion of first-year players in Dylan Fullmer, Kathleen Judd, Noah Wimer and Bret Middaugh, among others.
Fullmer had already challenged his way onto the varsity lineup for the first meet, beating a couple of higher-seeded athletes along the way.
At least three of last year's boys varsity team, Tim McCollum, Doug Henie and Zack Morse, will not be eligible at first, as their American Legion baseball season extended through the better part of the first week of tennis practice.
Match times are 3 p.m. today, with Eagle River at West, and Chugiak hosting Bartlett. Tuesday, Chugiak hosts Dimond, while Eagle River travels to South Anchorage.
The first match between the two local high schools is slated for Sept. 5, with Chugiak hosting Eagle River at 3 p.m.
Reach the reporter at news@alaskastar.com.
