The Mount Vernon boys’ tennis team brings back a huge team of 27 players this spring, led by senior Wyatt Rhoades who is coming off a season where he was the team’s Co-MVP and a bronze medalist at last year’s OCC tournament in second doubles.
“I think we can have a good season with a winning record,” said Coach Steve Tier said of his team that is coming off a 10-8 season. “I think if we can get off to a positive start at the beginning of our schedule it could be a great season. I am very pleased that we have so many talented players on the team. This will provide us with depth should we need it, and provide us a pool of talented players for future seasons.”
Rhoades will lead the squad, along with fellow senior Quinn Hoffman who will be the number one singles player for the Yellow Jackets. Junior Andrew Conway will be the team’s number three singles player.
Seniors Austin Anderson and Pete Lawson are coming off a great year as the number one doubles team, where they won the bronze medal at the OCC tournament. Also returning are senior Reece Schumann, senior Wade Brown and senior Mateo Penchon-Elkins.
New to the squad is senior Xavier Garcinuno, who will be on the first doubles team. He is a foreign exchange student from Spain, and his skills in soccer give him a great foundation of footwork which will help immensely on the tennis court.
The seniors on the Yellow Jackets will serve as the team captains this season.
Junior Christopher Hawthorne is also new, and could be in the second team doubles rotation. Griffin Beach, a sophomore, has been injured in the pre-season but could develop into a rotational player for the second doubles team.
Coach Tier said the team has put in much more work in the off-season that in years’ past, which she attributed to the help of Assistant Coach Jill McClure. McClure has put in time to monitor voluntary open court sessions throughout the summer, fall and winter.
Tier is in his 40th year teaching at Mount Vernon High School, spending 18 years coaching including three with boys’ tennis. He has a 108-158 overall record between the boys’ and girls’ teams, and 13-20 with boys.
“My philosophy of coaching has come from my experience as a tennis player and the advantage of being able to look back and see how tennis influenced my life,” Tier said. “I’ve seen that the successes I’ve had on the court, while enjoyable, were not the most influential factors that I got from tennis that affected my life.”
Tier said the team’s focus is to work hard, compete and be respectful. He explained that the best knowledge he has gotten through tennis is how to represent yourself, family, team and community. These will influence life more than any title ever can, he said.
“That is what I stress with our players and greatly insist that this attitude is what we present as players and as a team,” Tier said. “Having said that, I don’t want anyone to have the impression that winning isn’t important to us. We still want to drive our opponents into the ground.”
Tier is not a demanding, screaming or obsessive coach. He finds that encouraging players to do well and play to the most of their potential will improve an athlete’s performance.
“I can be a cheerleader for them and a motivator if need be, but not in a demoralizing fashion,” Tier said.
The team has a rally cry to start and end their practices, where they get into a circle with their hands up yelling “Jackets all in!” or “Jackets all out!” depending on where they are in the practice. After team introductions in Mathers, the team gathers in a circle with their arms around each other, swaying and roaring until a senior yells “Rip City!” The team responds “Gotta rip it!” Three times and then yell “Go Jackets!”
This type of camaraderie is something that helps the cohesiveness of the Yellow Jackets.
Tier expects that the team’s biggest strength will be the experience of the varsity players. He also sees these players becoming more aggressive in their play.
However, the team will need to be successful at the beginning of the season to build for future wins later in the season.
“We start off our schedule with some of our tougher opponents,” Tier said. “If we could get some early wins, it would build confidence in our players to believe they can compete with anyone.”
After spring break, Mount Vernon will hit the court for their first match. They travel to Ashland for a conference matchup on April 2 at 5 p.m. at Brookside Park.
