After another solid season in 2010, the Belleville West girls tennis team is aiming even higher in 2011.
The Maroons capped last year with a 37th-place finish at the state tournament, scoring six points as a team. But longtime coach Bob Keefe feels the Maroons can accomplish a lot more this year.
Graduation losses included Alli Chadwick (No. 2 singles) and Bri Schaefer, who was an undefeated Southwestern Conference champion at No. 5 singles.
"Chelsea Pierce, who is a senior, has some other things to do and she's not playing this year," said Keefe, who returned to West last season after a three-year retirement. "She was a conference champion at No. 6 singles.
"We have two conference champions returning in Kelcie Comley and Blair Hollenbeck, but everyone is in a new position except for Kelcie. We also have all-new doubles combinations, but we've looked very good so far."
Comley returns at No. 1 singles and was the area's top player last season. She and Chadwick also won their second straight sectional doubles title.
Hollenbeck, who moves up to the No. 2 spot, is undefeated in singles this season. Junior Anna Mernick, who may be the team's most improved player, moves up to No. 3 singles.
Senior Laura Knysak (No. 4 singles) had a strong postseason in 2010, beating Althoff standout Kelsey Porter in the sectional semifinals. Freshman Kayleigh Thurwalker steps in at No. 5.
"Laura is still trying to find her game this year," Keefe said. "Kayleigh is 5-11 and she's a pretty talented athlete. She just needs to play matches to find out how good she can be."
Senior Anna Bullard is at the sixth singles spot. Sophomore Gabi Papachrisanthou has already seen varsity action, filling in for teammates who are sick or injured. Other potential varsity players are senior Haley Jarvis, juniors Hanna Benson, Hannah Henry, Taylor Fultz and Susan Naumann and sophomore Danielle Hawthorne.
West's players hope to build on a strong finish to last season.
"I think we surprised ourselves a lot. We didn't expect to be as good as we were," Comley said. "Against some of the higher levels of competition that we played against, we really stepped up to the plate."
West's goals include winning the conference outright. Last year the Maroons and Edwardsville split the title, with the Tigers winning the dual match championship and West winning the SWC tournament.
"We have a lot of expectations to live up to because coach Keefe is such a great coach," Comley said. "We want to do the best we can."
"All six of us qualified for state last year (out of the sectional), so that's a goal for us again this year," Knysak said.
On Aug. 27, West placed third in a strong field at the Champaign Centennial Invitational.
"It was a cool experience because I haven't played in that many tournaments lately," Thurwalker said. "You get to see how the better people play and how they stroke the ball."
Thurwalker feels she's just beginning to tap her potential as a tennis player.
"I've played for a couple years, but I've been doing basketball and tennis was just a once-in-a-while thing for me," Thurwalker said. "Now I'm starting to get back into it and I'm improving a lot."
On Aug. 31, the Maroons lost 6-3 to Columbia Rock Bridge, the defending state runner-up in Missouri.
"Kelcie Comley and Blair Hollenbeck, beat a real good team, their No. 1 and 2 singles players, 8-4," Keefe said. "Right now they're 6-1 as a doubles team and I think they'll be one of the best teams in the area this year."
A strong schedule includes a pair of tournaments in Bloomington as well as the Southern Illinois Duals, Sept. 23-24 at Belleville East.
"Our goal has always been to finish in the top three of every tournament and traditionally we've done that," Keefe said. "If we can win a tournament or finish on top of the conference, that's icing on the cake.
"Going into last year, we had won 25 consecutive sectional championships, but a very good Althoff team edged us out by a point and a half. We'd like to regain that sectional title.
"For state, if we can qualify all six of our players out of the sectional, the top 15 is a very reachable goal."
