King Philip Girls Tennis Looking To Get Back On Top

For three and a half years, no Hockomock League team could defeat the King Philip girls tennis team and, when the Warriors finally did fall, it was due to illness.

When three of the team’s top athletes all went down with illnesses and/or injuries, the Warriors were susceptible and were defeated.

“We could have won the state championship,” KP coach Robert Goldberg said. “Our number one and number two singles players went down, and it made it extremely tough. Still, teams had trouble beating us.”

While the overall team did not go that far when the state tournament began, the doubles tandem of Sarah Shipley and Alex Embree went to the individual doubles finals before the fell. Shipley graduated last year with an amazing 79-1 record, while Embree returns to the team as a tri-captain this spring.

In addition to losing Shipley, Goldberg also said goodbye to Rachel Sweeney and Courtney Puddester. The three were important pieces to the Warriors attack.

“The three were very good players, but the heart of the team will be back with a lot of other capable players,” the coach said. “Our only problem this year will be our lack of depth. For the past 18 years, we’ve gone nine or 10 players deep, this year we’ll be only six or seven deep.”

Tri-Captain Lauren Trudeau, who had gone undefeated in her freshman and sophomore seasons while losing only once last year, moves up from the second singles lot to the first singles position.  According to the coach, as good a basketball player Trudeau is, she’s a much better tennis player.

“Lauren is a coaches dream player — she doesn’t show any emotion while she’s playing,” Goldberg said. “She’s a backcourt player with compact strokes – no wasted motion. She’s efficient and doesn’t beat herself on the court.”

Provided Trudeau holds onto the number one singles spot, the rest of the field is still totally up for grabs. Who will play where is still rumbling around in Goldberg’s head, and he has yet to figure it out until all challenge matches have been completed.

Those in the mix will be Embree, Casey Burks, tri-captain Jill Proto and junior Jill Beers.

Burks bounced between third singles and first singles while only losing once last season. Although capable of playing both, she’s much more comfortable on the singles court. She’s a very emotional player —sometimes too emotional, according to her coach.

“That’s the $64,000 question,” Goldberg said. “I really wish I knew where she’d be better suited.”

As a sophomore, Proto began to show the coach how good of a tennis player she really was. Playing in the third singles slot, Proto only lost twice last season. Goldberg would ideally like to play the tri-captain in the third singles spot again, but challenge matches will determine if she stays there.

Beers, who played second doubles as a sophomore, is a strong and consistent athlete that has worked hard to improve her game.

“She has a lot of top spin on her hits, allowing the ball to stay on the court,” the coach said. “She’s very aggressive and good at the net. She could time in singles or doubles.”

Other Warrior racketeers vying for playing time will be seniors Jen Bolluck and Nicole MacAuley and sophomores Kendra Pimavera and Caroline Modelane.

King Philip will be looking to return to its old form once the season begins on Tuesday April 5 at Medfield, but Goldberg knows that things will not be the same.

“The league has caught up with us,” the coach said. “Teams in the Hockomock League have more depth than they’ve had in quite some time. It’s all going to depend on who has the most depth that can carry them to the title.”