by Jamie Harris
With new tennis courts set for the future, the 2019 Berkeley Springs High School Indians boys and girls tennis programs are off to a great start this season.
The tennis program led by veteran head coach Raynette Mock and assisted by Ryan Fincham return three boys and five girls from last year’s successful team. There are six new boys and two new girls to this year’s team.
Returning for the boys are Matthew Rubeck at the #2 singles position, Dylan Carder at the #3 singles position and Ben Michael at the #4 singles position. New to the Indians team, but definitely not new to tennis is freshman Haden Fincham who will play the #1 singles position.
These top four will also team up for #1 and #2 doubles play. Josiah Kowalski and Jackson Heath fill the fifth and sixth positions which play the #3 doubles position. Charles Kirk, Preston Harris and Justin Kirk round out the team for the boys.
The girls return Dalas Carder to the #1 singles position, Leah Reed at #2 singles and Natalie Hashem at #3 singles. Newcomer Kennedy Shives will play the #4 singles position. These top four will also team up for #1 and #2 doubles play. Nicole Develing and Sam Herbst, both second year players, fill the fifth and sixth positions and play #3 doubles. Rounding out the girl’s team is newcomer Sonya Hose.
Both teams started off their season last week against Keyser on Wednesday, March 20. The boy’s team defeated Keyser 6-1. Fincham, Rubeck, Carder and Michael all won their singles matches. Fincham and Rubeck won #1 doubles and Carder and Michael won #2 doubles. The team of Heath and Harris played the #3 doubles for this match.
The girl’s team couldn’t quite pull off the win and lost to Keyser 3-4. Carder won her #1 singles match and teamed up with Hashem to win their #1 doubles match. Reed won her singles match at the #2 position. Reed and Shives played #2 doubles and Develing and Hose played the #3 doubles match.
Both teams traveled Saturday, March 23 and played Fairmont Senior and North Marion. The boys won both matches, defeating Fairmont Senior 7-0 and North Marion 5-2. At Fairmont Senior, Fincham, Rubeck, Carder and Heath filled the four singles positions with Fincham and Carder, Rubeck and Harris, Kowalski and Jackson Heath filling the three doubles positions. At North Marion, Fincham, Rubeck and Carder all won their singles matches with Rubeck and Carder winning #1 doubles and Fincham and Harris winning the #2 doubles.
The girls split the matches, defeating Fairmont Senior 4-3 and losing to North Marion 3-4. At Fairmont Senior, Carder, Reed and Hashem won their singles matches and the team of Carder and Hashem won the #1 doubles match. At North Marion, Carder, Reed and Hashem won their singles matches.
The tennis teams were back in action with a match at Petersburg, Tuesday, March 26 and will travel to Wheeling for a match Friday and Saturday, March 29 and 30.
