Helias wants to extend tennis season this year

The season starts today for the Helias boys tennis team, and it's been a long time coming for the Crusaders.

"Last year we had a winning season and now they have some goals and want to shoot for them," Helias coach Margaret Shimkus said. "They want to make the season last a little longer at the end this time around."

That could be an attainable goal thanks to Helias having a veteran squad.

"It's nice to have several people back because there have been some years where I've been teaching them how to keep score," Shimkus said with a laugh. "Even with the new kids who do need to learn that, they have picked it up quick, because they have a lot of people helping them."

The Crusaders, who open the season today at Moberly, also are a little bit further along this year thanks to a positive preseason.

"This is the fourth year I've been the head coach and the first year we haven't been snowed out," Shimkus said. "The weather has been amazing, which helps because it's always really busy right when we get started because several of our kids like to be in the play or have a lot of other things on their plate, in addition to always having the school work that is challenging."

Out of the top six singles players (in order) - senior T.J. Hagenhoff, sophomore Dalton Buschjost, senior Ben Mitan, senior Ryan Pollock, senior Dylan Grawe and sophomore Tristan Grawe - five of them were on the varsity last year.

"All the kids from last year have improved," Shimkus said. "It's a really positive group. ... The guys are ready to play."

They're part of a roster that boasts 23 players.

"I'm happy with that - I'm glad to keep a good-sized team," Shimkus said. "... I'm glad I have those numbers - we have a lot of seniors and you've got to plan for the future."

Other seniors include Mark Lamb and Jacob Wolken, who played a lot of doubles together last season and are probably the next doubles team outside of the varsity group, and Logan Distler.

"Logan is a strong wrestler and football player who had an interest in tennis, but was holding back coming out for it because of other sports," Shimkus said.

While the singles lineup is fairly set, the doubles teams are still getting attention.

"We've gotten to play more doubles than we usually do by this point, which is a good thing," Shimkus said. "It's an ongoing thing. We're still testing things, all the way down the line.

"... In doubles, you never really know. Some people come out to the match to play hard and some people are better in practice. I'll have to see them in some matches to see where we're going to go from there. We also need to find out weaknesses and strengths and pair them up that way."

After today's match, the Crusaders are off until March 29 when they open the home portion of their schedule against Battle.

"We have a really good schedule," Shimkus said. "... We've made it a little bit longer season (by adding some dual matches) and the guys will be ready for that."