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Four things you need to know about Watertown's girls tennis team

roger merriam, watertown public opinion
·4 min read

Let's call it like it is. Watertown High School's girls tennis team seems very capable of having a very successful season this fall.

The Class AA Arrows reached the midway point of their dual season with a 9-0 victory over Class A Milbank on Tuesday at the Highland Park Courts.

The win stretched Watertown's dual record to 6-3. All three of the Arrows' losses have come by 6-3 margins to defending state AA champion Rapid City Stevens, Sioux Falls Lincoln and Sioux Falls O'Gorman. They were three of the four teams that finished in front of fifth-place Watertown in last year's state tourney.

Here's four things to know about the Arrows:

Watertown's Faith Berg goes outside the court to make a return shot during Tuesday's high school girls tennis dual against Milbank at the Highland Park Courts. The Arrows won 9-0.
Watertown's Faith Berg goes outside the court to make a return shot during Tuesday's high school girls tennis dual against Milbank at the Highland Park Courts. The Arrows won 9-0.

The season is going well so far

Tuesday's win over Milbank wasn't unexpected since the Arrows do play in a higher class.

Watertown swept the singles matches with wins from Jaida Young (6-0, 6-1) at No. 1, Ellie Zink (6-2, 6-0) at No. 2, Leyla Meester (6-0, 6-1) at No. 3, Josie Heyn (6-0, 6-0) at No. 4, Faith Berg (6-1, 6-1) at No. 5 and Sophia Nichols (6-0, 6-0) at No. 6.

Zink-Heyn (6-0, 6-4) at No. 1, Meester-Young (6-2, 6-1) at No. 2 and Berg-Nichols (6-0, 6-0) at No. 3 added doubles wins.

"I've been happy so far with how the girls have played," said Watertown head coach Ryan Zink. "We have experience, but we're still pretty young for the most part."

Watertown's Josie Heyn clubs a forehand return during Tuesday's high school girls tennis dual at the Highland Park Courts.
Watertown's Josie Heyn clubs a forehand return during Tuesday's high school girls tennis dual at the Highland Park Courts.

Success in both singles and doubles

Young and Heyn, the team's only two senior regulars in the lineup, have sparked a strong 37-17 record so far in singles for the Arrows.

Heyn, in fact, is off to a 9-0 start at No. 4 singles. Young and Berg are each 7-2, Zink and Meester each 5-4 and Nichols 4-5. Zink, Berg and Nichols are all sophomores and Meester is only a freshman.

Watertown is currently 19-8 in doubles so far this season. That includes a 9-0 mark from the second flight tandem of Meester and Young. Berg and Nichols are 6-3 in the third flight and Zink and Heyn are 4-5 in the first flight.

"I still think there's certain spots where we haven't played our best tennis," said Zink. "Our No. 1 doubles team hasn't clicked at the right time. I still think we can can improve in some areas."

Milbank's Hope Karels hits a return with her partner's racket also pictured during Tuesday's high school girls tennis dual against Watertown.
Milbank's Hope Karels hits a return with her partner's racket also pictured during Tuesday's high school girls tennis dual against Watertown.

Class AA might be more even than ever

Sioux Falls and Rapid City schools won every state championship from 1992-2018 in the state's old one-class system. The two-class system started in 2018 and Sioux Falls Lincoln won the first two years before Stevens finished on top in 2021.

As previously mentioned, Watertown finished fifth in last year's state tournament after finishing fifth in the Eastern South Dakota Conference tournament.

Most of the time, there's usually a couple of bigger schools at the top, followed by others. It could be a little different this fall.

"In our three dual losses to O'Gorman, Lincoln and Stevens, we had some close losses and most of the matches were pretty close," said Zink.

Young recently notched a first-flight singles win over defending state champion Avery Summers of Sioux Falls Jefferson recently. That may not prove to be significant in the end, but just know that since 1969 Watertown has not had a state champion or runner-up in the first flight.

Watertown's Sophia Nichols reaches to hit a return shot during Tuesday's high school girls tennis dual against Milbank at the Highland Park courts. The Arrows won 9-0.
Watertown's Sophia Nichols reaches to hit a return shot during Tuesday's high school girls tennis dual against Milbank at the Highland Park courts. The Arrows won 9-0.

What's left with the schedule

Zink feels the ESD, like Class AA overall, has a number of talented teams. Watertown has some key matches ahead this week when they face Rapid City Central and Brookings on Friday in Brookings and also take on Huron and Pierre on Saturday at Huron.

The Arrows also have duals scheduled against Harrisburg, Sioux Falls Roosevelt, Aberdeen Central, Mitchell and Class A Aberdeen Roncalli before closing out their season with their two most important events.

The conference tourney is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 27 at Mitchell. The state Class AA tourney is slated for Thursday and Friday, Oct. 6-7 at Rapid City.

"Things are pretty competitive throughout," said Zink. "O'Gorman, Lincoln and Stevens are all good and the ESD teams have had a lot 5-4 scores with Mitchell, Yankton, Aberdeen Central, Brandon Valley and Huron and Pierre. I'd like to to think we're in the mix with everybody else."

This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: The Arrows improved their dual record to 6-3 with a win over Milbank.