A new fall high school sports season is upon us

Aug. 17—The Rochester Mayo girls tennis team and the Chatfield girls volleyball team are approaching this season from vastly different angles. The Mayo girls are full of expectations in a season that begins today with practices for all fall sports. And the Chatfield girls? They aren't exactly sure what to think. The Gophers were Class 2A state runners-up one year ago. But they will show up with a vastly different cast of players this year, with seven seniors having graduated from last year's juggernaut club, including Post Bulletin All-Area Player of the Year Harper Goldsmith. The Mayo girls tennis team, meanwhile, is loaded once again. It returns nine of its top 10 players from a team that won its third straight state championship last year. They do know what to think. A fourth straight title seems in the cards. "We have at least five seniors on the team, and three of them (will be) ranked in the top 10 in the state," said Mayo 35th-year coach Jeff Demaray, whose big three are defending individual state champion Aoife Loftus, Malea Diehn and Eliana Elder, all of them seniors. They have gone a long way in providing the Spartans a marathon win streak of 76 consecutive matches. Loftus and Diehn are likely to be ranked 1-2 in the first state poll and their team is likely to sit at No. 1. Demaray believes his team can handle the big expectations. It has done it before. "We aren't looking at the pressure aspect of it," said Demaray, who noted that the vast majority of his team put in ample tennis time in the high school off-season, taking lessons and playing in tournaments. "We're just trying to get better every time we are on the court. We hope to be playing our best tennis at the end of the year." And all of these state championships, has it gotten old for the Spartans? No way. "It never gets old," said Demaray, whose biggest task will be coming up with the appropriate doubles combinations with this latest edition. "This (senior class) is the greatest class in Mayo tennis history. I knew this class was going to be great years ago. "It's a credit to them. I am so proud of all of them. I'm really excited for this last year with them. I have seen them grow since the seventh grade as players and people. It's been incredible to see them grow and have those relationships." Chatfield fourth-year volleyball coach Kristi Rindels is hoping to watch a similar kind of growth from her players. With all of those seniors from last year's 26-8 team now gone, there will be plenty of varsity newcomers to develop. About the only really established player on the team is outside hitter Cora Bicknese, who in a year will play at Division I Michigan State University. She's a special one. "Cora Bicknese is an incredible athlete but even more than that she is a great leader and a great kid," Rindels said. "We'll have her paired as captains with (fellow) seniors Maizee Priebe and Zaylee Boyum. I think the three of them together can create an environment that brings this group together. They can mold the experienced kids with the ones who are in their first year of varsity. If that comes together, I think we can be incredibly competitive." Rindels said she has a sound reason for optimism. There are some new girls to the varsity scene who physically have what it takes. "We've got some really good athletes," Rindels said. "We've got some aggressive athletes who are going to go out and do the best they can. And that is something that you can't teach. That will help us for sure. It'll maybe make up for our lack of varsity-level experience." Rindels doesn't believe there is much pressure on her team. The pressure came last year when Chatfield had star setter Goldsmith and the rest of those seniors. That's when they were really expected to do something, and they didn't disappoint. This season, no one is sure what the Gophers are going to deliver. Rindels finds fun in that. "We knew that we had a lot of solid Division I and II (college) talent last year and everyone expected us to do well," Rindels said. "It's fun to come into this year and no one knows what we'll look like as a team. The only pressure is keeping the legacy that the girls before them have built. But for the most part, it'll be just one day at a time and focusing on getting better each day. Everyone will be fighting for positions. Everyone will be trying to figure out where they fit in best."