Park Hill tennis faces challenge to stay on top

The last couple years of Park Hill boys tennis have been memorable ones with several state playoff runs and even a couple close contenders for individual state titles. Tim Kalis’s program has risen to the top of Kansas City’s best competition. In 2011, with the loss of their four top players to graduation, the Trojans will face the challenge of living up to and maintaining the expectations set by those that came before them.

Asked what he has coming back this season, Kalis will tell you ‘a lot of hard work’, a sign of the progressive steps Park Hill hopes to take throughout the season. Even with an inexperienced and, in some cases, young team nothing has changed in terms of the end game.

“It’s going to be tough, but the guys have the same goals as they always have,” Kalis said.

The only two returning starters are seniors Michael Jones and Austin Caldwell. Joining them will be Blake Barnhard, Christian Reinmiller, Chris To, Drew Nickel, Ian Pauley, Nick Merchant, and Max Schoettger.

“You’re going to see our lineup changing and guys moving around. The bottom four spots are going to switch up because of the strong competition we have,” Kalis said. “We have some guys that played four, five, and six last year that could play in those same slots this year.”

While Park Hill may not come into the season with an obvious or dominant number one in their rotation, the Trojans could gain more favorable matchups as they move down the lineup. Some teams see a great disparity between their top varsity player and the last member of the varsity roster, but the closer parity and competition between his players is something Kalis hopes can translate into a better overall team.

“We kind of have a different attitude this year because we want to be able to grind teams out in tournaments,” Kalis said.

Kalis admits that depth is going to be a weakness along with experience, but leadership is something the Trojans aren’t lacking at this early stage in the season.

“I’ve been real pleased with the leadership,” Kalis said. “I’m proud of our juniors and seniors, but also impressed with the maturity of our freshmen.”

Park Hill’s conference title will most likely need its heaviest defense against a talented and experienced Lee’s Summit West team that returns all but one member from last year’s squad. Kalis echoed assistant coach Rustin Reys’ emphasis of the matchup against Liberty and Park Hill South early in the season as an indicator of how the season will play out followed by Pembroke Hill later in April.

“Those are right off the bat,” Kalis said. “That’s going to tell us a lot of what we need to know.”