Girls tennis season preview: Shy on experience and led by seniors Kenzie Kania and Amelia Smith, Chesterton seeks its sixth consecutive sectional title and has its home opener Wednesday vs. perennial powerhouse South Bend St. Joseph

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

The Chesterton girls tennis team has its streak of five consecutive sectional titles on the line this season with less experience and not quite the talent level as most teams during that dominant run.
“We lost three of our four doubles players from last year and doubles was our strength,” Coach Tom Bour said. “We were 43-3 at doubles last year.”
Still Chesterton had enough firepower Saturday to easily win the Logan Invitational for the fifth consecutive year. The level of competition in that tournament can’t compare to what awaits them in Wednesday’s home opener. Then again, not many Indiana high school teams can compare to South Bend Saint Joseph.
“We’re expecting them to be just as good as ever. They just never seem to run out of talent. When kids graduate they just reload,” Bour said. “It’ll be a nice test.”
A better test of the Trojans’ chances of tacking a year onto their sectional championship streak comes April 23 when Valparaiso visits Chesterton’s courts.
“We’ll know more by next week when we play Valpo,” Bour said. “I think Valpo’s going to be very competitive. They’re going to match up well with us. We’ll see what kind of lineup they go with.”
Bour never is afraid to tinker with his lineup, especially early in the season, but he said he expects less shuffling than in most years.
“Our lineup’s not going to change much at all throughout the year,” Bour said. “Maybe 2 doubles. There are a handful who could get into that spot. The singles spots are pretty locked up.”
Senior Kenzie Kania has the No. 1 singles spot for the third season in a row and is “head and shoulders above everyone else,” in the singles lineup, Bour said. Sophomore Kendall Gallion is at No. 2 singles and junior Emma Dobson has the 3 singles spot.
Take-charge senior Amelia Smith, who has been playing in varsity matches since her freshman season, made it to state last season at No. 1 doubles with graduated Aleksa Sorgic. Smith is paired this season with junior Genevieve Driscoll.
“Morgan Matthys is our mainstay at 2 doubles,” Bour said. “Now, who we put with her, we’re still testing the waters.”
Matthys and Rone partnered in Logan, but Bour said he likely will have Lizzy Navarro take Rone’s place vs. SB St. Joe.
“She deserves it,” Bour said. “She has a little more power, a little more aggressiveness, and obviously more experience.”
He added that senior Paige Engels and junior Mia Tsugawa likely will get a look there as well, competing with Navarro and Rone for the spot.
“Genevieve and Morgan were 12-0 at No. 1 JV doubles last year, so they have quite a bit of doubles experience, just not at the varsity level,” Bour said. So, they’re going to get an eye-opening experience Wednesday.”