The Mount Vernon High School tennis team is facing a challenge.
According to tennis coach Steve Tier, in his first year as Jackets’ boys coach, what faces the Jackets on the court is the ability to “play at a level where we can win against members of our conference that we often lose to, such as Ashland, Wooster and Lexington. Getting a win over one of those teams would achieve one of our goals.”
Tier’s coaching philosophy is to get his team to play to the best of its abilities to win.
He said, “ We are going to improve our abilities during the season.” However, Tier’s highest priority is to make sure that Mount Vernon High School team members represent their town, school, parents and themselves in an honorable manner.
“We will show respect and sportsmanship to anyone we play, and the same to anyone else with whom we come in contact before, during, and after our competitions,” he said.
Tier took up the game at age 10 during the 1970s tennis boom, taking summer lessons from the city parks department and advancing to play on the Mount Vernon tennis team from 1977 to 1980. During college and after graduation, he gave tennis lessons at city parks and, in 2006, became the assistant coach for the boys’ high school team, then the assistant coach for the girls’ team, before becoming the coach for each team. In 2009, he started organizing summer lessons for the city parks department, and he currently continues that program.
Tier was a member of a Yellow Jacket conference championship and wants to bring that history back to the current team. “I want for our players to experience a conference title,: he said.
Tier said he always depends on his seniors because of their experience.
“Becket Penchon-Elkins is playing third singles this year, the same position he played last year. Bryan Sabula is also repeating his role as a member of the first doubles team and we will count on their play and their leadership,” he said. “I think we have a good balance of experienced players and players who are competing at the varsity level for the first time. Sophomore Quinn Hoffman is our No, 1 singles player after playing second singles last year. Junior Alex Beuhrer is competing as a singles player this year after playing with Sabula last year at first doubles. Beuhrer is our No. 2 singles player. Sabula is being joined by senior Toby Boggs to form our first doubles team after Boggs played second doubles last year. Our second doubles team is made up of two players who are new to varsity competition, sophomore Pete Lawhon and freshman Andrew Conway.”
Tier sees team bonding as a big component of the Jackets’ net team.
“What I see is our biggest strength is the bond these players have formed this year. It has translated into challenging each other to improve their fitness and encourage each other at practice and matches. Our biggest weakness as of now is our consistency and our placement of shots. Both of these will improve during the season through experience.”
The boys’ team has a rallying cry it does as a team after all of the players have met their opponents and are heading to their courts. Tier said, “It is called ‘Rip City.’ It originated from the former boys’ coach, Jeff Jarosz, who told the boys that they ‘gotta rip it’ when hitting their strokes. We make a circle and sway to the left and right. A leader yells ‘Rip City,’ to which we all reply ‘Gotta Rip It.’ We do that three times and finish with a 'Gooooooo Jackets.'”
