Hit hard by graduation, transfers, other sports and a part-time job, the Philomath High boys tennis team enters this season with a roster of just 10 players — and only two of them bring back varsity experience.
As such, veteran coach Gary Quandt will be working this spring with a fairly green group of kids. Out of the PHS players that competed in the district tournament last year, only two of 12 are back on the local court.
“I’ve got a lot of newbies that have just been playing for two weeks,” Quandt said, adding that his expectations aren’t very high for the season as far as how team results turn out because of the likelihood of forfeiting one, maybe two matches.
The Warriors do not return any singles players with the top two lost to graduation — state qualifier Andrew Leonard to name one — while another chose to play golf and the fourth transferred to Corvallis.
Among those who played doubles last season, junior Lane Schell brings back the most experience. Schell played at No. 1 doubles with the now-graduated Gradin Fairbanks. Senior Ahren Harris competed with No. 4 doubles at districts.
“Hands down my best player is Lane Schell and I’m not sure what I’m going to do with that,” Quandt said. “I may just rotate him around … maybe put him in doubles a couple of times, put him in singles and throw some other guys around. I really don’t know what my lineups are going to be — I have to be very flexible and see what happens.”
Elsewhere, sophomores Jayden Pope and Kayden Reynolds return but they were used sparingly over the course of the season. The rest of the roster features two more sophomores in Nate Houck and Elijah Robinson along with four freshmen — Cedric Gaskey, Samuel Holroyd, Laurence Mielke and Mika Laukkanen Raskauskas.
Quandt’s return as head coach was in question as PHS advertised the position after last year’s campaign. At one point, it appeared that a new coach had been hired but that ultimately did not work out and Quandt had always told the school that he would continue coaching if the program needed him. He did confirm last week that this will be his last season of coaching.
“I don’t know how much success we’ll have but at least they’ll enjoy it and get some skills,” Quandt said about the upcoming season. “Maybe next year, they can get a full team together and get a coach. That’s my hope anyway.”
Philomath is scheduled to open the season, weather permitting, at 4 p.m. Tuesday at home against 5A Lebanon.
“We only have the one match and then we have Spring Break and come back and start our matches with a vengeance after that,” Quandt said. “So that’ll give me an extra week or so to get the kids in playing shape.”
Quandt does see potential on the roster.
“There’s some kids that with some time, they can be pretty fair players,” he said. “It’s going to take some time and it’s not going to happen this year but hopefully they have a positive experience and want to keep playing.”
After the season opener, Philomath will have six other matches on the home courts. The district meet will take place at Estacada for the early rounds before moving to Salem.
