FALL PREVIEW: Park Hill Girls Tennis

First year Park Hill girls tennis coach Rustin Reys takes over a program in 2012 that has won an impressive five straight conference titles and is coming off a fourth place finish last year at state, a record that might imply a certain degree of pressure for a new coach, but Reys says it couldn’t be further from the true and that previously being an assistant and player will greatly benefit him.

“I’m more at ease than I’ve ever been,” Reys said. “As a head coach, I feel like I’ll draw upon anything one of my own coaches has ever said to me. I can hear coaches in my head because I’ve been in these situations before (as a player).”

Park Hill welcomes back four of its top six varsity players from a year ago including doubles state qualifiers Brooke Barnard and Kaylin Lake along with Morgan Pehlman and Abby Peoples. Barnard comes into the season as the Trojans top player and has accepted not only the on-the-court challenge, but the leadership tasks off the court as well.

“She’s got the pace, has played all year, really swings hard for as small as she is,” Reys said. “You can see it in her eyes that she’s ready to step up and how much of a competitor she is going to be.”

What will prove to be the most telling for Park Hill in 2012 is how the bottom of their lineup shapes up. With 35 players out for the team, Reys says there could be as many as ten different players competing for the last one or two spots on the varsity level.

“It’s our strength and our weakness at the same time,” Reys said. “We’re so deep that it’s going to be hard to decide who those spots go to. But that also means they’re pushing each other in practice. We may have to switch it up to see how it shakes out.”

Park Hill’s conference titles of the past have been no walk in the park, but with conference realignment, it won’t get any easier. Some of the Trojans toughest matches will be in conference against Lee’s Summit West and Park Hill South. In both matchups, Reys says more than talent may not be the determining factor.

“It might not necessarily about who is better, but who’s focused mentally, prepared, and whos in the best shape,” Reys said.

While Reys hopes to keep many of the successful components of the program together, he’ll have his own unique style of coaching which he says will attempt to be more direct to players in how they can contribute to the team.

“I’m trying to be very honest to the girls about what they can bring to our team and what their role is,” Reys said. “I’m relying on the fact that the girls have played over the summer because once the season starts, there isn’t a lot of practice time available. They’ve put in a lot of work and we’re hoping to capitalize off that.”

Early key matchups for Park Hill include competitions against Pembroke Hill on August 23rd and St. Theresa’s on August 31st.

Fall Roundup: Aug. 22 - Aug. 27

Park Hill South Softball
.... went 3-2 in their season opening tournament last weekend in Joplin. They were able to score victories against Bartlesville (9-3) and Neosho twice (12-11, 7-5). They were beaten by McDonald County (2-0) and Carl Junction (5-2). Coach Josh Walker's team was able to make contact and hit the ball pretty well with an overall batting average over .330, but Walker said his teams fielding was an area which needed to improve on. They'll play at Raytown and Winnetonka this week.
 
Park Hill Girls Tennis
The Park Hill girls tennis team started the season off with a 6-3 victory of Liberty last week. Led by top player Suzanne Barth, the number one Lady Trojan in singles defeated Kristen Filardo with an impressive 10-2 before teaming up with doubles partner Anna Karasiewicz to beat Filardo and Cassidy Paul 10-4. They were unable to maintain the hot start against Pembroke Hill as they suffered an 8-1 loss in a poor performance for Park Hill. Barth was able to edge out Pembroke's McCray 10-8 in the top doubles matchup, but McCray was able to exact revenge in doubles when she and teammate Czerwinski downed Barth and Karasiewicz 10-4. They'll host St. Theresa's Academy Thursday in their only scheduled match of the week.

Park Hill Girls Golf
Park Hill girls golf saw high quality results in their first week of the 2011 season. Placing sixth at the Liberty Invitational, Anna Kloeppel and Adrianna Elliott tie for 16th place while Bailey Warlen just a few places behind in 23rd. They capped off their week with a 51 stroke win over Platte County when they shot a team score of 193 compared to the Pirates 244. Adrianna Elliott led Park Hill with a score of 45. They play at Staley followed by a match at Winnetonka and Oak Park this week.

Park Hill South Girls Tennis
Lady Panthers tennis began their season with a 7-2 win over Blue Springs. Top singles player Adele Royle defeated the Wildcats top player with a quick 8-0 victory. Marie Gehrke followed it up with an 8-3 win over Blue Springs number two player. Royle and Gehrke reaffirmed their solid play with an 8-0 victory in their doubles match. They host Liberty and Oak Park in separate matches this week.

Park Hill South Girls Golf
Park Hill South placed third in the large field of 23 teams at the Liberty Invitational last week. Junior Lindsey Gile placed fifth while senior Kelli Mulligan placed ninth out of 89 players. Later in the week they defeated St. Joe Central with a team score of 207 to Central's 220. Gile was a medalist with a score of 46 just eight over par.

GIRLS TENNIS PREVIEW: Park Hill looks like another contender

Park Hill girls tennis is a particularly goal-oriented program, more so than most teams, and over the past five seasons there haven’t been many that have gone unfulfilled. This evident from the five consecutive conference championships, three straight district crowns, and two state semi-final appearances, not to mention the individual honors earned by those teams.

It was even more surprising to see exactly how high those goals reach when we caught a glimpse of the form coach Tim Kalis asked his players to fill out at the start of the season. Not only did it list typical goals like winning a conference, district, or state championship, but they varied in degree from simply learning to be a solid recreational player to being ranked in the state to actually winning a Grand Slam title as a professional. Kalis wants his athletes to think big as he does and he’s continuously trying to find ways to inspire them, his latest a speech called “Quiet Confidence” he first heard used for Texas Christian University’s baseball team.

The Trojans return this season with three of their top six players including individual state qualifier and top-ranked senior Suzanne Barth, doubles state qualifier sophomore Brooke Barnard, and Anna Karasiewicz. Competing for the remaining spots are a group of girls who Kalis said will push each other throughout the season resulting in several experiments with different players in the lineup. They include Morgan Pehlman, Abby Peoples, Brianna Donahue, Beth Cooper, Megan Meier, Kaylin Lake, and Makana Welsh along with several novice players that could edge their way into some playing time this season.

While Park Hill returns several cornerstones of last year’s team, Kalis says this year more than any they’ll have to rely on the little things to beat the tough competition in the area.

“Collectively, this year’s women’s tennis team must rely on extreme hustle, grit, and sound fundamentals (such as footwork) to meet our challenges, overcome obstacles, and reach our team goals,” Kalis said. “Our focus during practices has always been and will continue to be what we can control once we step out on the court – effort and attitude."

Both Barth and Barnard will be working towards an opportunity to avenge early exits from the state tournament last year as Barth was defeated in the singles tournament by eventual state champion Lindsey Whitehead of Ladue. Barnard, with partner Kate Skorija, suffered the same fate with a defeat by the doubles title winner, also of Ladue. While Barth, a 2008 doubles state champion, may best represent the words of ‘quiet confidence’ and is ready for her senior campaign, Kalis says Barnard has been a strong vocal presence over the course of the summer and into the pre-season and expects them both, along with Karasiewicz, to be solid leaders.

“She’s (Barnard) really been aggressive in calling the girls up to hit over the summer and getting people together for activities,” Kalis said.

As several Northland teams continue to develop into top programs, it will make it that much more difficult for Park Hill to stay above the likes of teams like Liberty and Park Hill South. The key to the Trojans 2011 campaign will be developing the bottom half of their varsity roster to complement the solid and experienced talent they have at the top.

Top tennis player puts on game face

Some true competitors are hard to spot when they’re not in action. Even on the surface when initially meeting them, you may be surprised they’re able to aggressively excel as much as they do when they present such a welcoming and innocent demeanor. The high school sports world is full of these types of competitors and you can see the change take place as they step from non-playing surface to playing surface.

Park Hill junior Suzanne Barth is one of those athletes and it’s even more evident this season as she is working to not only return to the state tennis tournament’s championship match again, but to win that match after coming in second a year ago. Kirkwood’s Rachel Stuhlmann, who Barth lost to in consecutive sets (6-0, 6-0) last year, has graduated leaving Barth with the added motivation to claim what she had come so close to doing last year as a sophomore. Coach Rustin Reys doesn’t believe it’s a matter of ability, but mentality.

“She’s so talented that she just has to learn to use her weapons to the best of her ability,” Reys said. “If her game plan and approach is right, she can’t be beat.”

Asked what it was like to be selected as one of the team captains as a junior, Barth will respond humbly, but her coach says she is a natural selection based on her own work ethic. While she may be soft spoken in the hallways of Park Hill, Barth seems to become someone different when she steps onto the court for practice or a match.

“She’s very authoritative when it comes to leading the team and pushing herself hard,” Reys said. “She’s very competitive and wants to win 10-0 every match.”

“I don’t like losing,” Barth said of her approach to competing. “It’s important to stay mentally strong all day.

Park Hill lost its first conference meet in several years to Lee’s Summit West last week. Although Barth did not play, as a captain she knew how important it was to shake the loss off and set their sights on the post-season.

“We need to stay positive,” Barth said. “We lost the match earlier in the week, so we just need to stay together.”

Although bummed with a sore left wrist of late, Barth’s one more year of experience and practice could bring her back to the state tournament as a more mature player and her coaches believe it will be the way she handles adversity that could be the difference maker.

“She has all the skills to be a state champ because she has no shot that needs improvement,” Reys said. “If she can make good game decisions, she will do well.”

GIRLS TENNIS PREVIEW: Top three back for PH tennis

When you’ve won four consecutive conference titles like the Park Hill Girls Tennis team, the expectations only grow each year. With the program coach Tim Kalis has been able to fine tune over recent years, the 2010 season will be no different.

The Trojans return singles state runner-up Suzanne Barth, Kate Skorija, and Anna Karasiewicz from last year’s squad. While Park Hill’s top three were contributors to past successes, the fate of this year’s team could be largely determined by who rounds out rest of the squad. There are a pack of girls competing for the final three spots including upperclassmen Ashlei Bos, Sammy Young, and Bailey Petrillo along with freshmen Brooke Barnard, Kaylin Lake, Abby Peoples, and Beth Cooper.

In what could be considered a rebuilding year, Kalis is excited about the position of the program. Having so many girls compete for spots right now will not only have an immediate effect, but is also positive in the long-term.

“It’s nice to see the girls getting those opportunities,” Kalis said of the competition. “We have a large group of freshmen girls of which four or five will definitely provide a boost for us in the future.”

With a 28-1 conference record in the past five years, the new conference arrangement will provide a challenge to the Trojans. Lee’s Summit West stands out as an experienced and talented team they’ll have their eyes on.

“This will be one of the more difficult conference years,” Kalis said. “If we focus on one meet at a time and
get better every day, we should be fine."

The Trojans will be tested early with a tough schedule featuring Liberty, Park Hill South, St. Theresa’s and Pembroke Hill. All four are scheduled in the first two weeks of the season.

“The nice thing about having some tough schools in our schedule is it will give us an idea of the work we need to do,” Kalis said. “It will be nice for our younger players to see the meat and potatoes of high school tennis and what it’s like to play some big guns right off the bat.”

Being battle tested is nothing new to the program, as they’ve faced stiff competition and defeated it before. Their coach sees promising signs so far.

“I’ve been so pleased with the work ethic so far that sky is the limit,” Kalis said. “I think we have great potential.”

Park Hill tennis squad looks to continue success

To say Tim Kalis’ team has been successful over recent years would be an understatement.

Over the past four years the Trojans have gone 48-14 in duals overall, 23-1 in conference play. Last year’s 3rd place team finish was the highest in the district’s history – boys or girls. If you add in the conference and district championship along with four team tournament titles, you’ll figure out pretty quickly that this program isn’t used to losing. With five of their top six players returning from last year’s team, you can expect more of the same this year.

Merritt Whitley, Kate Skorija, Allison Skorija, Suzanne Barth, and Noelle Stratman will all be coming back to play an important part in whether the success their team experienced last year can be repeated. Whitley and Barth are the defending Class 2 Doubles State Champions. Kate Skorija medaled at last year’s state tournament by placing sixth in singles. So far their coach has noticed a completely different level of energy in practice.

“The girls have definitely come back with a mission," said Kalis. They have always worked hard, but this is one year you can definitely see all 40+ girls with a common goal."

Others hoping to make an impact will be Katy Plummer, Ashlei Bos, Bailey Petrillo, Maureen Donahue, Anna Karasiewicz, and Alisha Bos.

Kalis says he continues to tell the girls they must take pride in what they are doing and do what is right. Not only in tennis, but in life.

“One of our team themes this year is ‘win every day’,” said Kalis.

With a strong group returning for the Trojans this year, don’t be surprised if the theme of winning every day becomes closer to a reality.