Photo courtesy of Photoworks The 2020 Marshall girls tennis team includes front row (L to R): Kelli Remme, Maggie Tabaka, Aubrey Bjella, Kayla Polejewski, Gionna Parsa and Mackenna Eickhoff. Middle row (L to R): Samantha Maher, Danielle Ewing, Kaylee Prins, Leah Schaefer and Regan Loft. Back row (L to R): Coach Alex Cleppe, Leah Matzner, Kaia Christensen, Eden Knudson, Mariah Bergjord, assistant coach Steph Bot and assistant coach Jamie Lanners.

MARSHALL — Last year, the Marshall tennis team had another strong season, posting a winning record. With a lot of experience coming back, the Tigers will look to take another step forward under coach Alex Cleppe.

Marshall brings back a large group of returners this season, led by Gionna Parsa, Leah Matzner, Eden Knudson, Regan Loft, Leah Schaefer, Danielle Ewing and Mariah Bergjord.

Cleppe said an area of strength for their group this year will be the experience of their singles and a few doubles players, but added they are trying to figure out the right pairings for their doubles teams.

“I think with our returning lineup, a good area of strength is going to be our singles. All of them are returning, so they’ve got a lot of experience there,” Cleppe said. “Doubles has also been a strong suite for us, but it’s going to be a little more of a challenge with replacing half of our doubles.”

Cleppe said they don’t have much for expectations due to the uncertainty of the season, but hopes that everybody will get a chance to compete at some point and they can push for another season above the .500 mark.

“I’m hoping that we can just have a good season and that everybody can compete,” Cleppe said. “It’s hard to have any expectations when your schedule is kind of thrown out the window with the way summer worked out, but I’m hoping that we can be at least around .500 as a team to start the season.”

The Tigers have gotten out to a solid start this season, picking up three wins in six matches, including two against Worthington. Going into the rest of the season, Cleppe said he’s just looking forward to having the opportunity to play the sport they love.

“Playing tennis. That’s what I’m looking forward to the most, we get to play and that’s my favorite part about this year,” Cleppe said. “I know there’s a lot of things going on, but as I told the kids, we get to play, so let’s play.”