2024 Times girls tennis preview: Streator, Ottawa both reloading their lineups this fall

Ottawa Pirates

Coach: Steve Johnson

Top returning players: Zulee Moreland, jr.; Gabby Cooper, sr.

Top newcomers: Andie Kerestes, sr.; Taquelin Hernandez-Solis, jr.; Laurel Fisher, jr.; Perla Gutierrez, jr.; Brooklyn Byone, jr.; Rylee Harsted, jr.; Rhoin Zopp, jr.; Tessa Diaz, jr.

Worth noting: The Pirates’ run of six consecutive team sectional championships was halted last season, finishing runner-up to champion Morris. Ottawa’s star doubles team of sectional champs/state qualifiers/2023 Times Girls Tennis Players of the Year, Rylee O’Fallon and Emma Cushing, are gone to graduation. Back, however, is Moreland, who qualified for state as a doubles partner to the also-now-graduated Mackenzie Eichelkraut, as well as Cooper stepping into a leading role. “We have nothing locked in yet,” Johnson said last week when asked about how he planned to fill out the Pirates’ nightly lineup card. “It will probably take a few weeks to figure out our best postseason options … [but] close competition within the team will help us improve every day.” The juniors vying to crack that varsity lineup will also have up to seven underclassmen pushing them and looking to move up. The Interstate Eight Conference’s shift to a new dual format that includes six singles and three doubles matches should offer more opportunities as Ottawa looks for its 32nd sectional title. As for individuals who may make some postseason noise, Johnson said, “The ones who have taken to heart, ‘Improve every day.’ ”

Streator Bulldogs

Coach: Kaye Tallier

Top returning players: Joey Arkels, sr.; Cheyenne Chandler, sr.; Aubry DeMoss, sr.; Indyana Hernandez, sr.; Annika Michlik, sr.; Madelyn Wahl, sr.; Joyce Walking, sr.

Top newcomers: Avery Arambula, jr.; Julie Chaudhari, jr.; Isabell Gutierrez, jr.; Garvi Patel, jr.; Audrey Arambula, so.; Adelaide Mahan, so.

Worth noting: Tallier begins her 28th and planned final year as head coach of a Bulldogs program she has nurtured into year-over-year stability, with 20 players on this fall’s roster including three – two underclassmen and DeMoss – from nearby Woodland School. “We will see quite a few changes in the lineup this season,” Tallier said, “so it may take us a couple of matches to settle into our new roles and partners.” Wahl, a mainstay of Streator’s No. 1 doubles team the past two seasons, will convert to singles play and seems to be a lock for a spot in the varsity starting lineup. Tallier notes that sophomores Mahan and Audrey Arambula have also played their way into the varsity conversation and, “We will have to wait and see how the rest of the roster shakes out. … One of our strengths is the girls’ willingness to work with each other [new partners] in order to make our team effort as strong as possible.” Increasing the total number of individual victories from the 2023 season by at least five wins is the goal – one Tallier’s Bulldogs believes they can reach.