Wolverine tennis aiming for another run at State titles

Published by admin on Wed, 03/12/2025 - 7:00pm

The 2025 WHS tennis team holds, not in pictured order, Genesis Aburto, Kaylee Mink, Sheila Field, Taylee Mink, Hailey Rux, Gia Apostoli, Evelyn Rodriguez, Makenna Nagasaka, Bella Federline, Heidi Williams, Emmaline Bequette, Adalyn Brush, Addison Anderson, Halle Seward, Michael Strasser, Billy McAllister, Ryker Enders, Fred Crossley, Luke Cazier, Justin Ragan, Challen Pero, Klete Cook, Nathan Price, Hunter Williams, Alex Woods, Porter Strasser, Grant Walker, Alejandro Travenco, Aaron Alva, Diego Delgadillo, Kolin Cook, Diego Hernandez, Luke Bake, and Dauge McClellan. Coaches Scott Manser and Martin Loya are pictured.
By: 
Nancy Grindstaff
Stepping out of winter and straight into Weiser High School’s spring sports season, Wolverine head tennis coach Scott Manser has nothing but positive vibes for the 2025 season.
 Assistant coaches this spring are Martin Loya, Jud Tolman, and Pedro Ixta, giving the players and Manser plenty of backup for this season.
 “I’m really excited about all of our returners that came back from last year,” Manser told the Signal American. “We had a really good 2024 season overall, a fun year.
 “Obviously, the boys winning the state championship as a team, and (returners) Kolin (Cook) and Diego (Delgadillo) winning the championship in boys doubles, and Dauge (McClellan) winning runner-up in boys singles, it’s going to be fun to watch,” he said. “The person Dauge played in the championship round last year is back, too, so we’re going to be watching film and he’ll be ready to battle.
 “We have 19 boys and 12 girls out, so far,” Manser added. “It takes nine boys and nine girls to make a full team, so on the boys side we have full teams for both varsity and JV. We’re just a little short on girls numbers to have a full JV, but it’s early.”
 McClellan is the boys’ team captain, and Halle Seward, another four year player, has taken the leadership role on the girls’ team.
 Manser is excited about the skill levels he sees in both his boys and girls teams.
 “The boys team is just very, very deep,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun to watch the competition between everyone, all working to get better.”
 Manser described the “ladder” system the athletes play through to qualify for competitive matches.
 “If you are ever around watching practice, we have some sort of tie-breakers or matches going on one or two courts, every single practice,” he said. “Those are those ladders, so in the early season we play a lot of challenge matches to set the top nine, and we do that through the year until we get into the second round of conference matches. Those matches set  the seeding for district, so you’ll see the varsity makeup shift a little up until that point. 
 “At that point we have some final play off challenges to set those final spots,” Manser added. “Every year there’s always some tears involved, because the kids are so into it, and it’s fun to watch. And there’s always surprises, and I expect some more.”
 This is Manser’s fourth year as head coach, and his fifth year with the high school team after assisting Angie Soulen for one year. Prior to that he said he had coached in Weiser Middle School’s program for several years.
 “Our high school program wouldn’t  be successful without the middle school feeding it,” he said. “Back when I played tennis here in Weiser, there wasn’t a middle school program. You came in as a freshman, and if you hadn’t been playing with your family or friends, you’d come in and learn how. Now we have freshmen come in, I can’t remember the numbers off the top of my head, but we had three or four freshmen last year qualify for the state tournament. So, we are not able to do that without the middle school program.”
 Manser is also excited about new equipment he was able to get for the program through a LOR Foundation grant.
 “We got a grant from the LOR Foundation for just shy of $8 thousand this year for some equipment to dry the courts and blow off lots of leaves and pine needles,” he said. “These courts get really dirty so I generally will clean them before every match, but it takes around an hour. 
 “Through the grant we got this monster leaf blower to clean the courts, and then we got these really cool court dryers, like they use at the U.S. Open and Wimbledon,” he added. “When we have rain we will be able to dry it quicker and not have to have practices in the gym. And we’ve had some matches canceled in the middle of them. So this will allow us to spend more time on the courts and we’re very thankful to the LOR Foundation for doing that for us.”
 

 

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