Page 14/The Sun and News, Saturday, April 17, 2021TK opens tennis season with nearly all new varsity players
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
It is going to be happening
on tennis courts everywhere,
girls making big jumps up
the ladder.
Thornapple Kellogg senior
Nancy Hoogwerf is moving
into the first singles spot for
the Trojans this spring after
spending time in the doubles
line-up as a sophomore in
2019.
TK head coach Philip
Sylvestre said he had a good
time working with Hoogwerf
in the summer after that
sophomore season and wish-
es he could have worked
with everyone more last
summer. He said Hoogwerf
is settling into that first sin-
gles spot nicely. There will
be afternoons where it is a
tough spot, playing against
opponents’ top players, but
she had a good first after-
noon.
The Trojans opened the
season with an 8-0 win over
new OK Gold Conference
foe Kenowa Hills. Hoogwerf
scored a 6-1, 6-0 win.It was the Knights who
were a big overmatched.
That one game Hoogwerf
dropped in the first set was
the only game a TK girl lost
in the singles matches. TK
only gave up five games in
the fourth doubles flights.
TK has a line-up with a
number of seniors in it, but
Hoogwerf is the only one
who has played varsity ten-
nis before. Charlotte Nelson,
a freshman, has earned the
second singles spot behind
her with junior Sophia
Beckering pushing her in the
third singles spot.
“I think she has been
exposed a little to tennis, but
not much,” Sylvestre said of
Nelson. “She did it in middle
school through the club and
that helped, and she came to
the camps and that helped.
She is also an all-round ath-
lete.”
Courtney Haveman and
Katie Schorr have scored the
first doubles spot for TK.
Taylor Buxton and Jamie
Devries have earned a spot
as the number two doublesteam. Madeline Coe and
Trinity Simons are filling the
third doubles flight and Ellie
Essenberg and Heidi Church
took over the fourth doubles
spot for the first dual of the
season.
Sylvestre said he has real-
ly seen big improvements in
Coe from her sophomore
season to her senior season
now.
Nelson is one of a solid
freshmen group which
Sylvestre is excited to teach
over the next few seasons.
“I think they’ve got the
bug to play. That is fun,” he
said.
He has been happy with
practices so far.
The season picks up steam
quickly. TK will be at the
Lakewood Invitational today
(April 17). The Trojans visit
Cedar Springs for a confer-
ence dual Monday and
Catholic Central for a con-
ference dual Wednesday in
the week ahead, then will got
to Otsego for a non-league
dual April 23 and head to the
Caledonia Invitational April24.
TK’s first home match isset for April 26 against
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With strong junior class back on varsity, TK soccer starts 4-
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
The Trojans did what they
could in the time between the
2019 and 2021 seasons to
keep their feet ready for this
spring.
Thornapple Kellogg varsi-
ty girls’ soccer coach Joel
Strickland said that between
the last varsity game of 2019
and the first one of 2021 he
had girls borrowing bags of
balls from time to time to get
some work in; a couple team
members have full size goals
in their yards; a few girls
gained some club experi-
ence; and many attended off-
season workouts at the
school when that was possi-
ble.
“They haven’t skipped a
beat,” Strickland said of his
handful of returning varsity
players.
“They are all natural lead-
ers, which is great. Now that
they’re a little older andupperclassmen it is cool to
see how other kids respect
them because of the success
they’ve had.”
That group includes four
juniors who were up on the
varsity as freshmen in 2019:
goalkeeper Tristen Cross,
defender Grace McNabney,
forward Kiah Nichols and
forward Ainsley Oliver.
With that group leading
the way, the TK ladies are
already off to a 4-0 start.
They won their OK Gold
Conference opener against
Kenowa Hills 8-0 Wednesday
afternoon.
Oliver had tow goals and
an assist in the win over the
Knights.
Freshman midfielder
Emma Schut had three goals
and an assist in the win,
which reached the 8-0 mark
about six minutes into the
second half.
TK scored wins over
Lowell, Northview andGrand Rapids Christian
before spring break.
While the juniors high-
light the list of returnees for
TK this spring there is a solid
senior group which includes
midfielder Amelya Thorne,
defenders Abbie Numerick
and Evelin Zavalza and for-
eign exchange student Lova
Swartling. Numerick is a
team captain this season.
Schut isn’t the only fresh-
man looking to make her
mark on the varsity. Coach
Strickland has also added
defender Emelia MacDonald
to the varsity roster.
Sophomore Peyton Pratt is
also a key addition to the
varsity rotation.
Schut and Oliver had the
two goals in a 2-1 TK win
over Lowell to open the sea-
son March 26, with Schut
assisting on Oliver’s goal.
McNabney had a goal and
Nichols two in the Trojans’
3-1 win over NorthviewMarch 29. Oliver had two
assists against the Wildcats
and Zavalza had one.
In a 5-3 win over former
conference foe Grand Rapids
Christian March 31, TK got a
goal and two assists from
Oliver, two goals and two
assists from Nichols, and
goals by Pratt and Swartling
as well.
“Our goal every year is to
compete for a conference
championship, but we obvi-
ously have some great teams
in our conference,”
Strickland said.
He expects good challeng-
es from league newcomers
Grand Rapids Catholic
Central and Cedar Springs
especially, and it will be hard
to know how things will turn
out when rosters can sudden-
ly change from day to day.
Strickland said he still hasn’t
had his full team together for
Kiah Nichols a single practice yet.