EPHRATA — Britney MacLeod, head coach for girls tennis at Ephrata High School, said she’s excited for the new season to start, especially since it means she’s working with her cousin, Courtney Burck, who took the mantle of head boys varsity tennis coach this season.

“My dad and her mom and brother and sister,” MacLeod said. “We got to play together in high school.” 

This year though, the focus remains on the student athletes the cousins are charged with building into strong tennis teams. It’s a bit of a new foundation year for the girls team after players graduated last year. 

“Last year, we had a very strong team. We lost some very crucial players, so we’re kind of in the midst of shuffling things around,” she said. 

Half of the state doubles team returned though, so there is a foundation to work on she said. It’s just a matter of using preseason play to make adjustments as they move into the regular season. 

“I’ll have a good competitive second doubles team. We have a lot of green kids, a lot of kids coming up from JV and a handful of freshmen who have never played, so it’s a wide variety of skills, but I’m confident that they’ll get there,” MacLeod said. 

The opportunities to build the team up have her excited for the new players to show the coaching staff what they can do, the coach said. She sees a few of the students as standouts already, bringing skills that they can continue to both improve upon and pass down to their teammates. 

“There’s always good opportunity. When you graduate a big group, you get exposed to new kids and kids that you wouldn’t see before,” she said. 

Among this year’s promising candidates are Erica Morford, Chloe Ho and Emily Pugh to anchor the team as less experienced players get their feet under them and move forward, MacLeod said. 

The Tigers face Quincy this weekend which has seen a lot of turnover as well, MacLeod said. That should help both teams look at what they need to work on and how they need to adjust as they get ready for regular season play. 

“(Quincy is) kind of in the same boat. They have a handful of kids returning to remain competitive and they’re moving in a fresh group of kids, so it will be a good matchup for us to just kind of get kids some court time and expose them to see what they can do and how they perform,” she said. 

After that, the team will also face Chelan and Cashmere, which both have competitive teams so it’ll test the Tigers' mettle on the court, but that just makes for what MacLeod called, “a skill-building learning lesson.” 

MacLeod said she wants the tennis team to be a good experience for her players and something that builds them up.

“I want them to be confident and I want them to be competitive,” she said. “I think tennis is a nice mix-up from team sports where you kind of get to gauge your own competitiveness and your drive and it really is on you to accomplish your goals.” 

Ephrata Girls Tennis Schedule

March 9 - at Quincy - 11 a.m.

March 12 - at Chelan - 4 p.m.

March 14 - vs Cashmere - 3 p.m.

March 21 - vs East Valley (Yakima) - 3 p.m.

March 23 - at Selah - 10 a.m.

March 30 - vs Ellensburg - 10 a.m.

April 6 - at Grandview - 10 a.m.

April 9 - vs Prosser - 3 p.m.

April 11 - at Othello - 3 p.m.

April 13 - vs Moses Lake - 10 a.m.

April 16 - at East Valley (Yakima) - 3 p.m.

April 18 - vs Selah - 3 p.m.

April 20 - at Ellensburg - 10 a.m.

April 23 - vs Grandview - 3 p.m.

April 26/27 - at Inland Empire Tournament - 9 a.m.

April 29 - vs Prosser - 3 p.m.

May 2 - vs Othello - 3 p.m.

    Kate Maedke preps to serve during practice this past Tuesday. Focusing on core skills is a big part of preseason practice as the coaches help players dust off old skills or develop new ones.
  

    Chloe Ho practices her serve during a practice on the courts at Ephrata High School. She is one of the players coach Britney MacLeod said will help anchor the team as the season moves forward.