Tennis team could play entire season without home courts

New Cascade Tennis Head Coach Joey Johanson is pleased to see 25 players turning out for the team, despite the fact they may not have any home courts to play on this season. Due to the school construction, the tennis courts at the high school were removed last summer. 

The hope was to build the new courts at Osborn Elementary last fall, but the adverse weather prevented it. Now, with still several feet of snow still out there, Johanson is resigned to the fact, they may never play on home courts this season. 

“We’ve been in the gym. We did a get chance to go to Walla Walla Point Park in Wenatchee. We also will have practices at the WRAC. Chelan PUD has been really helpful. Whenever we want to use Walla Walla Park courts, they’ll let us use those courts,” Johanson said. “We’re using private tennis courts in town. We’ll make it work until the courts are ready. I hope they are ready in May. I’m hoping for the best, but planning to not have them.”

There are 25 kids turning out. Johanson said that is great, considering they may not have had a team at all. The girls team is the defending league and district champion. 

“We have our number one singles, which is Taylor Kelly. She should take of business within league. We have a good number one doubles team. We have Katie Schiefelbein coming back and Brooke McDevitt,” Johanson said. “Then, we’ll see who fills in after that. We lost a lot of seniors. I hope we can compete. The goal is to try to win some league matches.”

For the girls, Johanson feels that Omak and Okanogan will be tough, but they have a lot of club players. He would like to compete with Chelan. He’s not sure about Cashmere. He is optimistic about the boys’ team. 

“We have four or five returners. We have a new freshmen, Hans Schlyer, basketball player. He’s been playing some tennis. Now, I have some confidence in the boys. I think we’ll be competitive,” Johanson said.  

The new coach knows it will be tough on the boys, because the Caribou Trail League is stacked with good tennis players. 

“Chelan always has a couple kids that are great. Omak and Okanogan usually have a couple kids that play at the club. Cashmere has a really good singles player, Tyler Kert. It is going to be really competitive,” Johanson said. “I’m optimistic, but I understand those teams are really strong. It is going to be interesting. We just want to get better everyday.”

Johanson was the assistant tennis coach two years ago. He’s excited about getting his first head coaching opportunity at the high school level. 

“I’ve been looking to move up. I’ve been assistant for basketball, assistant for tennis. I’ve been a middle school football coach. I’m excited about the opportunity to be a head coach and be in charge of a program,” he said. 

Cascade begins the season March 11 at Quincy. 

Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.