Lakeview, South Lake Brace for Tough Tennis Seasons

Dedication is key in tennis.

No one knows that more than the Cavaliers and Huskies girls tennis teams–who braved 40-degree temperatures and on and off drizzle to take to the courts for their match-up Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s been a rough year already,” said Cavaliers longtime coach John Burke. “We’ve only played three matches so far this year because everything else has been canceled by the weather.”

His team, which is 1-2 on the year, hasn’t had a lot of chance to practice because of the weather either.

“It’s just been one of those years so far,” he said. “Nothing is going right.”

Burke says he’s not sure how much better things will get for the season either.

“We really don’t even know what we’re capable of yet because of the practices and the cold,” he said. “It’s just a case where nothing is going right.”

Burke says he has faith in his first and second singles players, Audra Pachmayer and Jackie Duc, but he’s unsure how the rest of the team will do.

“(Pachmayer) and (Duc) were three and four singles last year and they moved up into the one and two slots,” he said. “We have two other seniors in the three and four spots, but they don’t have a lot of experience. Just because we have seniors in the spot doesn’t mean we have experience.”

Burke says he expect the season to be a rough one for his girls.

“We’re in the MAC (Silver Division) and there are a lot of good teams in our division,” he said. “It’s just too early to tell.”

Things look equally tough for the Huskies under first-year coach Colette Buckberry. They’re currently 0-4 on the season.

“It’s been a hard season so far, that’s true,” Buckberry said. “They’re a dedicated bunch of girls, though. They have a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of drive.”

Despite a winless start, Buckberry says she has seen signs of life from her team.

“They really aren’t getting blown out in these matches,” she said. “They’re competing. They haven’t won yet, but they’ve lost a lot of these matches 5-3 so they’re getting some good games in there.”

One bright spots for the Huskies has been the fourth doubles team of Hannah Sporer and Leah Golemblewski, who are undefeated so far this season.

“They’ve been really tough,” she said. “I’ve seen a lot to like in the way that they’ve played.”

Buckberry admits that the weather has been a factor for her squad as well.

“We were actually not going to play a full slate today, or even cancel it, but then we realized we had no room to reschedule it,” she said. “Things have just been hard to get in a rhythm because of how bad the weather has been.”

Like Burke, Buckberry thinks her team has a rough road ahead of them this season.

“I think it’s going to be tough for them,” she said. “We have a really young team. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

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