FREMONT – Ross boys tennis coach Lisa Wolfe may appear at times to be a mad scientist experimenting with all different lineups and doubles combinations, but there is a method to the madness.
Tennis coach Lisa Wolfe
Over the next two weeks, the Little Giants have a match scheduled every day. They also have doubles tournaments scheduled for Friday, April 13, and on back-to-back days the following weekend, at Port Clinton and hosting their own on April 20.
So between now and then, and literally no practice time to figure out the best way to put the puzzle pieces together, Wolfe wants to see different doubles combinations in action in order to know how to approach the upcoming doubles events.
“This is the time to play around,” Wolfe said. “We have to get serious when to get to league matches. And there are certain ones along the way that will be very competitive, like Clyde on Wednesday is a crazy good team.
“We play in three doubles tournaments and we have no practices before Saturday and no practices before Port Clinton and the Little Giant one (the following weekend).”
And the experimentation certainly isn’t hurting the Little Giants’ on-court fortunes in the meantime.
Ross won its second match by a 5-0 score Saturday morning, as the Little Giants rolled easily over Sandusky Perkins, less than a day after posting the same score against Bowling Green.
As no set was closer than 6-2, Wolfe instructed her doubles players to focus on developing their skills moreso than finishing the match as quickly as possible.
“Once you’ve got one set under your belt, then you start working on what you’re not comfortable with: volleys, at-net, things like that when you’re playing (doubles),” Wolfe said.
Lucas Cronin
Alex Thatcher
Saturday’s doubles pairs du jour saw Alex Thatcher, who’d played No.2 singles on Thursday and Friday, combined with Lucas Cronin for a 6-0, 6-0 win at No. 1 doubles. And the pairing of Sam Long and Trevor Weickert also cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 victory at No. 2 doubles.
“I liked Alex and Lucas together,” Wolfe said. “This wasn’t all about first-serves today. I told them ‘Practice your second serves, practice coming up to the net, practice your angles.’ Something that a singles player, like Alex, is not used to. He’s used to the court by himself. Those two together did a great job practicing playing doubles together.”
In singles play, Nils Nolte picked up his second win of the season at No. 1 singles, winning every game along the way, 6-0, 6-0.
Ethan Moyer, playing his first singles match of the year after playing doubles the previous two nights, won at No. 2 singles, 6-0, 6-1. And first-year player Drew Miller won the first singles match of his career in 6-0, 6-2 fashion at No. 3 singles.
Trevor Weickert
Sam Long
Moyer and Miller, however, better not get too used to playing singles, as the mad scientist is already hatching her next experiment Monday at Fostoria.
“I like Ethan and Drew at doubles, so I bet you you’ll see that on Monday, just to prepare for the tournament on Saturday, or the following weekend when we have two doubles tournaments,” Wolfe said. “It’ll give me a good feel for if they can communicate and play together.”
Fremont Ross 5, Sandusky Perkins 0
No. 1 singles: Nils Nolte def. KB Ko, 6-0, 6-0
No. 2 singles: Ethan Moyer def. Ethan Weatherway, 6-0, 6-1
No. 3 singles: Drew Miller def. AC Blue, 6-0, 6-2
No. 1 doubles: Alex Thatcher/Lucas Cronin def. Denando Dante/Jake emery, 6-0, 6-0
No. 2 doubles: Sam Long/Trevor Weickert def. Seth Jollif/Michael Ingram, 6-0, 6-0
Junior varsity
Fremont Ross 3, Perkins 0
Cody Lopez/Isaac Minor def. Matthew Herrington/Ryan Zheng, 4-0
Santi Minor/Kennedy Bohannan def. Herrington/Zheng, 4-0
Hayley Lawrence/Isaac Minor def. Herrington/Zheng, 4-0