Season Preview: Hershey Girl’s Tennis

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (KNOP) - The Hershey High School Girl’s Tennis Team is looking to make a splash in the 2022-23 season.

The Lady Panthers return several players from last year’s squad and only bring on two new members. Head Coach of the Lady Panthers John Lehmer is looking forward to building on the progress that was made last season.

“We only have two new players on the team, so the rest are returning players. It’s actually been really nice for me to not have to almost reteach the whole sport of tennis to everybody, and the returning players have been able to help out the younger girls so it’s awesome,” says Lehmer.

Both Lehmer and Senior Jordyn Messersmith have high expectations for this team as most of them already have a year of playing experience under their belt.

“We have very competitive girls and every day at practice it’s super competitive, so just go out and compete and win,” says Messersmith.

Lehmer also mentions that the lineup will not be set in stone, especially until they find the combinations that click.

“Expectations are very tough as a coach this year because we have eight or ten girls out of fourteen that could all challenge for a varsity spot. It’s a great problem to have but it makes it tough as a coach to make those decisions. We’ll probably be mixing a lot of girls in and out throughout the season,” explains Lehmer.

The Lady Panther’s kick off their season on Monday March 20th at the North Platte Doubles Invite.

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