QHS girls tennis team looking for growth from youthful squad

QUINCY — The return to Ottawa brought the Quincy High School girls tennis program some normalcy.

The rest of the schedule hopefully will, too.

With a vast number of underclassmen, the Blue Devils need the challenges their traditional schedule provides, starting with last Friday’s Night Light Invitational at Ottawa. The Blue Devils finished fourth as a team as the top two singles players — twin sisters Phoebe and Lily Hayes — squared off in the third-place match. Lily Hayes won 6-3, 6-4.

The two doubles entries each finished fourth in their respective divisions.

“They haven’t played the number of quality matches they should have played last year, so we’re still growing and getting better,” QHS coach Mike Terry said. “We played as many as we could. If you remember, everything was up in the air so it was difficult to schedule.

“So this is something close to normal.”

That’s going to be good for the entire program, mainly because there will be more matches for everyone.

One of the drawbacks to forging ahead during the pandemic was teams were limited in the number of players who could travel. So instead of bringing a junior varsity squad to a dual, teams only brought six or seven players.

It means sophomores and juniors didn’t get much on-court time.

“I’m hoping we can improve quickly and get some experience,” Terry said. “So as far as match play, some of them are just starting out and most of them have not played doubles at all.”

The Blue Devils understand that creates some adversity, but their natural ability to bond is helping overcome some of that. 

“The biggest challenge will be supporting each other in different ways and knowing how to support each other,” Phoebe Hayes said.

The youth movement isn’t tied to the Hayes sisters alone. Audra Cain is a junior, while Amelia Willing, Addison Otten and Courtney Liesen are sophomores.

“We’re all different and have different abilities,” Lily Hayes said. “We play different.”

In the end, each one has to play a role for the Blue Devils to challenge for a Western Big 6 Conference championship and a sectional title.

“I’m excited to watch this group grow,” Terry said.