After going 15-0 in the Solano County Athletic Conference last season and winning their first league championship in more than in three decades, Benicia High’s girls tennis team is hungry for more in 2014.
The Lady Panthers return 8-of-12 starters from last year’s squad, including senior Michelle Li, who lost in the SCAC Singles championship last fall to Vanden’s Kiwi McDaniel. Three freshmen and a senior join a starting lineup that is every bit as good as 2013.
“I’m expecting great things,” said first-year head coach Lisa Burton, who served as a BHS assistant coach the past eight years. “All of our returning players have come back stronger and more accurate. I was very excited with the depth of this team. The fact we have three freshmen who have stepped into varsity is great.”
Li is arguably the best athlete – male or female – at Benicia High, being named First Team All-SCAC in tennis, basketball and soccer last season. She’s Benicia’s No. 1 singles player for a second straight year and should contend for a conference title.
“She doesn’t play much tennis but is just an incredible athlete,” Burton said. “Her hand/eye coordination is incredible and she makes things look easy.”
Veteran sophomore Lily Hayward has moved up to No. 2 singles and junior veteran Samantha Beyer holds down the No. 3 slot. Freshmen Madeline Beyer (Samantha’s younger sister) and Melanie Fisher have earned the No. 4 and 5 singles slots, respectively, and junior Nicole Go has moved from doubles to No. 6 singles.
Gabriella Traver and Katie Voss reprise their role as Benicia’s No. 1 doubles team. Senior Adeline Morley played doubles last year and teams up with freshman Madison Lammert at No. 2 doubles. Junior Milagros Esmerode, another doubles veteran, is paired with newcomer Megan Klein, a senior known more for soccer.
“We have three very capable doubles teams this year, which is something we don’t usually have,” Burton said.
Benicia opens the season Tuesday at Fairfield.
“I think we can go further into the postseason,” Burton said. “That’s our goal, but first we have to do well in our league.”