Olympus girls tennis swings into fall

The Olympus girls tennis team has a bundle of new experiences in store this season, not the least of which is a new coach. Patrick Healey, who also coaches the boys tennis team at Olympus, has stepped in as head coach this year.

“I’ve got some great assistants,” Healey said. “Kevin Watts, who has coached at Cottonwood High School, and Megan Dorny, who played tennis at the University of Utah and was also an assistant coach there.”

The Titans burst into region play with a clean-sweep varsity victory against Hillcrest Aug. 23.

“It was good to have a win like that,” Healey said. “We had a lot of tie breakers.”

Winning their individual matches were juniors Anika Van Boerum (first singles), Lauren Anderson (second singles) and Emily Thompson (third singles); seniors Savannah Goodrich and Chelsea Pinnock (first doubles); and sophomores Emily Watts and Hannah Durham (second doubles).

Healey has already brought changes to the program, the first of which was to establish a “no-cuts” tryout Aug. 4, 5 and 8. In effect, the new policy means that any girl interested in playing tennis is welcome on the team (with the exception of those individuals who don’t make grades.)

“We have more [players] this year than we’ve had in the past,” Healey said. “I kept 34 girls. It’s a good thing that I have such good assistants to help.”

The Titans will face some stiff competition in the new Region 7, particularly against Skyline, which has taken three state championships and two second places in the last five years.

“We may not be the strongest in the region, but we have some good players,” Healey said.

The team will be at a new location this season, thanks to the massive construction work going on at Olympus. Home matches and practices will be at the Olympus Hills Park just below I 215 at 4500 South.

The Titans lost their first match to Highland Aug. 10, beat Hillcrest 5-0 Aug. 23, and lost to Herriman 5-0 at home Aug. 30. Olympus faced Westlake Sept. 1.