ROXANA - The Roxana High School girls tennis team will have strong expectations with some key returnees and one of the area's top coaches in Zach Plocher. Plocher is also a tennis star himself and he brings a lot of technique and teaching skills to the Shells program, which took off last year.
"With this season the thing with this team is we have a ton of new faces with not a ton of experience from being freshman to being new to the district," Plocher said. "This year there are only four returners from last year, three which were varsity players. However going into my second year as a coach I am feeling more organized and better prepared for what’s ahead.
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"We had the opportunity to get in some summer work this year and the people who came showed a ton of progress. We are in a new conference which unfortunately does not have a lot of schools with tennis programs but have managed to put together a tough and full schedule this year so I am excited to see how our players continue to improve and grow."
The Shells top three players are exerpienced, but the bottom three will be very inexperienced so with this season is going to be a true team effort in improving every day to get the job done, added Coach Plocher.
"The motto we are going by is persistence is progress," he said. "When it comes to my top players, our top three, I expect some great things from them this year. They have been working hard all summer and putting in a ton of extra work. Which is why I chose them as my captains. Lindsey Ratliff is a returning state qualifier who has continued to get better.
"Lindsey is taking that next step in her game to finish points earlier and hitting spots to set herself up to win points. Makenna John is someone in my mind to really watch for she is only a junior this year and went 32-6 last year for singles and doubles and has done nothing but worked her tail off all summer on the courts and on fitness and her game has improved a ton. Cayla Fansher came to us last year from volleyball and loved tennis so much she came back and to see how much she improved in one year is incredible. I have never seen a harder working young lady. You tell her to do something she will get it done and if she fails she is the type of person to say again, again until she gets it right. Those three are definitely names that will be around this season."
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