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Washington County tennis is looking to turn a corner in 2012, and it could start with an increase in the number of players this season, particularly on the boys’ team.


Head Coach Aaron Duggar said despite the boys’ team only returning five players from last year, this season’s squad doubles the required seven players to qualify for team matches.
Many of the players for both teams are new to the sport, but some of the newcomers on the boys’ side have proven to be able to pick the game up quickly.
“Several of our new players, sophomores Austin Lanham, Nathan Caldwell, and Christopher Morrison, have performed extremely well to be newcomers to the sport,” Duggar said. “So, I anticipate more wins this year from the boys’ team.”
Duggar said he also has a duo he’s confident will be competitive in doubles play this year.
“Two returning players, (senior captain) Steven Royalty and (sophomore) Stewart Young, have the potential to win a lot of matches as doubles partners this season,” Duggar said. “They began to work together well toward the end of last season, and I believe they will be even stronger this year.”
Royalty said he sees an opportunity for the team to take a major step forward.
“We could compete for district if everybody stays focused,” he said. “We’ve got some good guys back this season and some new guys that could be pretty good.”
Duggar also said it will be big to get junior Steven Cook back, who played his freshman year, but elected to sit out last season. Duggar said he expects Cook to have a strong season in singles play.
“The boys’ program seems to definitely be growing, and showing signs of better things to come over this season and the next two seasons,” he said.
The girls’ team won’t benefit from the same kind of player turnout as the boys this season. After just meeting the requirement to qualify for team matches with seven players last season, the girls’ team will field a six-person squad this year.
They bring back Amelia Hilton, Erica Walker and Jessica Brady, and welcome newcomers Erica Weir, Rachael Cook and Gabrielle Sims.
They won’t qualify for team matches, but Duggar said he’s looking forward to seeing what the girls are capable of as individuals.
“Hilton and Walker, both juniors, attended clinics last summer and should be strong singles competitors this year,” he said. “I have high expectations for them this season.”
Walker, who is a co-captain with Hilton, said she sees potential for this year’s team to improve over last year.
“We’ve gotten a lot better. We’ve progressed a lot since I started playing my freshman year,” she said. “We can do a lot better than last year. We have some new people that are showing a lot of potential.”
The Commanders and Commanderettes will both open the regular season on Friday at home against Nelson County, before traveling to Danville on Monday.

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[Stardust]

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