Melinda Flohr is hard at work training Emporia High’s girls tennis team to be a pack of 49 angry, snarling, racket-wielding animals.
OK, not really. But when asked to name an area she wants to work on more than any other, the Spartans’ coach says she wants them to be more aggressive in overall play.
“Just being aggressive on every shot, every serve,” Flohr said. “And not letting emotions come into play, either. You miss a point and lose a game here or there, not let it affect the next point or the next game. But probably just the main thing would be aggressiveness.”
This year’s Spartans will have a mixture of youth and experience. Of the 49 girls out for tennis, 23 are newcomers. But EHS will have 17 seniors, two of whom are new additions, and Flohr said seniors will make up the majority of the varsity.
“I think a definite plus for us is that we have a number of returning girls that have seen quite a lot of play,” Flohr said. “So that should be very beneficial to us this season, that they have experience, and a lot of them have varsity experience.”
Jordan Sosa, coming off a sophomore season in which she won her first match at the Regional meet, will probably be the Spartans’ No. 1 singles player. Sosa said she’d like to reach State this year, especially because it’s being held in Emporia. But she said she has a lot of work to do on aspects of her game.
Flohr’s emphasis on aggressiveness is evident in Sosa’s focus. In addition to getting more spin on her serves, Sosa said, she needs to work on getting up to the net more.
“I’m definitely more used to playing back,” she said. “I haven’t been (at) as high of a level as the past two years, though. So, I’m getting up higher, and then you get more at the net.”
Key seniors will include Rose Nasrazadani, Whitney Page, Kaitlin Pedersen, Tiffany Ma, Ashley Gitchel, Sarah Dorsey and Kelli Sippola. Right now, Flohr doesn’t know how most of her lineup will shake out, such as who will replace last year’s No. 1 doubles team of departed seniors Sarah Watkins and Lauren Kitchens. Page and Nasrazadani were last year’s No. 2 doubles team.
The Spartans finished seventh at the Centennial League meet last fall.
“I think we have some promise to be a pretty good team this year,” Flohr said. “You never know what other schools that you’re playing have coming in, so we’ll know a lot more in the next month for sure.
“But the girls have worked very hard. We’ve had several that have worked in the offseason, which is gonna help us out a lot.”
EMPORIA HIGH GIRLS TENNIS SCHEDULE
Sept. 11 at Olathe South
Sept. 13 EMPORIA INVITE
Sept. 18 Derby Invite
Sept. 20 EMPORIA INVITE
Sept. 23 Washburn Rural Invite
Sept. 27 EMPORIA INVITE
Sept. 29 EMPORIA INVITE
Oct. 4 Manhattan Quad
Oct. 9 Regionals
Oct. 17-18 State