Big Foot/Williams Bay/Faith Christian boys tennis team looks to build off last season's success
Big Foot sophomore Logan Longhenry returns to the Big Foot/Williams Bay/Faith Christian tennis team this year as the number one singles player for the second consecutive season.
Big Foot senior Jesse Robison will once again be paired up with fellow teammate, senior Grayson Grunow, as the number one doubles paring for the Big Foot/Williams Bay/Faith Christian tennis team this spring.
Big Foot's Grayson Grunow is one of two seniors back for the Big Foot/Williams Bay/Faith Christian boys tennis team this spring alongside his doubles partner Jesse Robison.
The Big Foot/Williams Bay/Faith Christian boys tennis team heads into the new 2023 spring season having to replace 10 seniors from a team that went 7-2 overall, placed second in the Rock Valley Conference, and had a state tournament appearance by number one singles player Logan Longhenry (20-6), who’s now a sophomore.
Adam Westhauser, now in his fifth season as the boys tennis head coach at Big Foot, thought last year went very well as a whole and hopes to build upon that this season.
“Overall, I thought we had a lot of success and it was a successful season,” Westhauser said. “Being able to send Logan to state was a huge accomplishment for him and that was something he wanted to strive for. We definitely had a strong singles lineup, which carried us a lot last year with having so many upperclassmen in some of those spots. But we came up a little short in conference against East Troy, and being Division 1 in our sectional, we were in a difficult sectional with Madison West and Madison Memorial which are some of the top teams in the state.”
With losing 10 seniors, Westhauser acknowledged that the leadership might be a missing piece early on from the singles side, but he’s confident in the guys who will fill those roles.
“We had three seniors last year who filled three out of the four singles behind Logan,” he said. “But having Logan back as our number one is super helpful and there’s a bunch of guys underneath him who were trying to find their spot in the lineup last year, but were stuck behind those upperclassmen. This year, however, there’s some openings whether it’s in the singles lineup or some of those double spots where they can jump in and take ahold of early on in the season, for sure.”
The three players replacing those seniors in those singles spots are expected to be sophomores Ethan Rurey, Jack Kammermeier and Scout Giroux.
“They all played in a handful of matches last year whether it was in the doubles lineup or the bottom of the singles lineup and they always filled in when we needed them,” Westhauser said. “With those spots open this year. I’m sure most of them will want to play singles, so they’ll be fighting for those two, three and four single spots.”
The two seniors that will be back are Jesse Robison and Grayson Grunow, who will now in be in their third year playing doubles together.
“I know this will be a big year for them. They have stuck together and they have wanted to keep playing together at the number one doubles spot,” Westhauser said. “Having some chemistry there is huge for us. It’s always nice not to have to throw a couple guys together and not really know how it will work. I know they really want to set the tone and want to be able to achieve a little bit more than they have in the past, and I think this is a great chance for them to do that.”
Westhauser expects to have over 20 kids on the team between varsity and junior varsity this season.
“There will definitely be some other guys who played strictly JV last year that will jump in and take some spots on the doubles side,” he said.
The singles lineup for BFWBFC was a strongpoint for the team last season, and even with replacing 75% of them, Westhauser believes that will be the case again this season.
“Obviously having Logan at the top end sets us up really well in singles,” he said. “Those four guys (Longhenry, Giroux, Kammermeier, and Rurey) have definitely put in the time in the offseason and have really taken the opportunity to work at it because they know those spots are available.”
But his confidence remains high on the doubles side of things as well.
“My first year coaching at Big Foot was the only time I ever had a doubles team qualify for state,” Westhauser said. “Between Jesse and Grayson, they have a chance as long as they put in the time and work hard this spring to earn their spot and be consistent.”
The goal for Westhauser and the team is always winning a Rock Valley Conference Championship, and he’s confident they can do just that.
“It’s going to be a good, competitive conference season,” he said. “There will be a lot of close matches with so many new faces. But we want to compete for that conference title and be in the conversation. Between East Troy and McFarland, especially for us knowing that we’ll see them (McFarland) later in the spring for the playoffs, those are two teams that are kind of in our sights we’ll see a lot. Going into the playoffs and being in a new sectional that doesn’t have all the Madison schools, I think is a great opportunity for us too. I think it gives Jesse, Grayson and Logan a better chance to qualify for state, and it gives our team some opportunities to matchup against teams that we will see throughout the season, have some familiarity with and see where we stack up to take a run at it at sectionals and sub-sectionals.”
BFWBFC’s first matches are scheduled for April 6 in an invitational hosted by Mukwonago High School.
