It’s now been four years since ConVal head coach Liz McEachern came out of retirement to helm the dormant Cougar girls’ tennis program, and while the sport is falling out of favor at some local schools, McEachern said it’s hot as ever at ConVal.
“They are having fun,” McEachern said during Wednesday’s match against visiting Hollis-Brookline at Adams Playground. “For some reason, tennis is cool with the girls right now. A lot of girls come out every year … They take care of each other. They’re good to each other. They join because their friends have said it’s really fun or it’s really great, and I think that’s been the attraction at ConVal.”
It took two years for the Cougar girls to rally enough players for a team following the canceled 2020 season; in that window, the Wilton-Lyndeborough tennis program folded, along with the Conant boys’ team, and this spring, the Orioles couldn’t muster the numbers for a girls’ tennis team, either. Even the ConVal boys have to do some serious recruiting to fill out their ranks. Yet the Cougar girls keep on trucking along.
ConVal graduated three of their top six from last year, but retained their No. 1, sophomore Haley Samuelson, and slid Riley Heider up from No. 3 to No. 2; those two have seen the most success for the Cougars thus far this spring, with Heider picking up several individual wins and teaming with Samuelson for a doubles victory. Behind them, there’s not a ton of experience on the ladder, but everyone’s learning as they go.
“We had a bunch of freshmen last year that had never played before and most of them are back,” McEachern said. “They played fantastically well today. I’m very proud of them.”
No. 3 Berkley Bates is shaping up to be a strong player this spring after coming in last season with little-to-no-experience, and her doubles partner, No. 4 Emi Hall, is showing equal improvement. So, too, are the third doubles team of Willow Rushalko and Audrey Higgins.
“They’re all playing much better than I expected for this point in the season,” McEachern said.
The one thing an inexperienced team needs to improve is reps, which puts the Cougars at something of a disadvantage, as the Adams Playground tennis complex ceded one of their four courts to pickleball last year, leaving ConVal with just three on which to practice and play, which makes for a bit of waiting your turn during practice and extends the timeframe of home matches as well. Still, ConVal is improving, and they’ll need to if they want to make the playoffs this year. The Cougars are currently 0-3 and have not finished at .500 or better since 2019, but the postseason is in their sights.
“What I would really love to do — and it would be a really big goal — is make the playoffs,” McEachern said. “It’s not impossible, but that’s a tough goal for us. But that would be great…We’ll just see how it goes. They’re a great bunch of kids.”
ConVal was scheduled to play at Timberlane Monday afternoon and host Oyster River Tuesday at 4 p.m.
