Influx of underclassmen fill out Nevada tennis roster

Nevada High's Jace Lanham runs down a serve in late-April of 2015. Lanham is now primed for a big junior campaign. (Photo by Matt Resnick/Daily Mail)

Nevada High School tennis returns three seniors and a junior, while the rest of its roster is comprised entirely of freshman and sophomores.

"We have 13 athletes this year that (went) out for the team," NHS tennis coach Clayton Wheeler explained. "Nine of the 13 are in ninth or 10th grades, so hopefully they stick it out and play through their senior year. They all have great potential."

Nevada's upperclassmen are, seniors Braden Laning, Sheel Patel, and Nathan McCall, and junior Jace Lanham.

"Our No. 1 player (Jordan Sheehy) graduated last year and we had some former players decide to not play this year," Wheeler noted. "But I know this team will work hard and fill in the missing pieces."

Wheeler added: "We have five first-year players, which is a large part of our team. They will play crucial roles and, several could find themselves in varsity matches very early this season."

Wheeler, who's entering his ninth year as head coach, said he expects his squad to be highly competitive this season.

"Even in practice (we're competitive)," he said. "We also have good senior leadership. The only weakness we have at this point is the fact that we are a young team and an inexperienced team ---- but we continue to improve day-to-day in practice."

Wheeler continued: "The key to us having a good season is the players staying positive and having faith in their abilities. It's an important concept in any sport or activity, but it seems that in tennis, players will dwell on negative situations like missed shots or double faults, and it will bring them down."

Even with such a young roster, eight of Wheeler's team members have varying levels of high school tennis experience.

"I'm very excited to see how our first dual plays out," Wheeler said, as Nevada opens its season March 28 in Fort Scott (Kan).

Nevada is a member of the West Central Conference, as the Tigers concluded the 2016 season 2-4 overall in WCC-play.

"Warrensburg and St. Pius will be our toughest competition this year," Wheeler said of the conference foes. "Those two programs are always very strong."

2017 tennis roster

Seniors: Braden Laning, Sheel Patel, and Nathan McCall. Juniors: Jace Lanham. Sophomores: Caleb Theis, Colson Fisher, Gabe Barnes, Spencer Hawkins, and Tanner Gotschall. Freshman: Gage Rubin, Gage Turner, Austin Pursley, and Tommy O'Connell.