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player ready...For Chesterton’s Hannah Nabhan, gone are the days of completing a serve and expecting a lobbed return over the net.
Velocity is the new norm for Nabhan’s opponents and weak returns are an infrequent occurrence.
Nabhan is receiving a crash course on the difference in competition levels between No. 3 and No. 1 singles. After playing No. 3 as a freshman, Nabhan (15-5) made the leap to the top spot for her sophomore season.
“It’s a huge step,” she said. “At No. 3, you just have to play consistently and wait until you have your shot. At No. 1, you get girls who hit the ball a lot harder.
“I like to play with more pace, so it’s easier for me to play against girls like that.”
Chesterton coach Tom Bour had little choice but to elevate Nabhan after his top two singles players graduated. So far youth has been no detriment to the sophomore’s success.
“At the No. 1 position, you get the school’s best player, so there are no days off for Hannah,” Bour said. “That’s the hard part. At No. 1, you have to come to play every day. She’s improved every aspect of her game.”
That improvement came through hours spent on the court throughout the summer and winter.
“She changed a lot,” Bour said. “She changed her serve. She revamped everything. A lot of the credit goes to her. She did a lot of the work on her own. To have the discipline to do that as a sophomore is awesome.”
Moving to No. 1 is challenging enough. Doing so as an underclassman is even more significant. The biggest difficulty of Nabhan’s job is the responsibility of replacing Chesterton legend Meg Modesto.
Modesto, who’s now 19-1 playing at Valparaiso University, was the Trojans’ lone representative at state last season.
“She never lost, so I want to follow in her footsteps and make her proud,” Nabhan said. “I want her to feel like she left it in good hands.”
Nabhan is continuing a family legacy at Chesterton started by brother Zac, who played under Bour for four seasons.
“We have been running a lot together, which is weird because we normally don’t do that,” Hannah Nabhan said of Zac. “He won’t admit it, but I think he’s proud of how far I’ve come and that I’m doing this.”
Young veterans: At Wheeler, age is only a number.
The Bearcats have five players with varsity experience despite no seniors on their roster. It’s no surprise that coach Mike Rosta’s job this year is tougher.
“The meat of my team is juniors, so the nice thing is everything we do this year, we’re going to build on for next year,” Rosta said. “I’ve never had a team with no seniors, so I need to find some leaders in the group.”
Trial by fire: First-year Morton coach Nikki Storck has made no secret of her inexperience.
“I have no idea what I’m doing,” she said with a laugh. “I’m learning as I go.”
Storck graduated from Morton and always enjoyed tennis, but never played the sport in high school. Former Governors coach Debbie Lueken, now the school’s athletic director, was Storck’s physical education teacher there.
Brandon Vickrey is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
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Last week’s rankings in parentheses
1. Munster (1)
2. Lake Central (3)
3. Valparaiso (2)
4. Portage (5)
5. Crown Point (NR)
Player of the Week: Lake Central’s Claire Gonek had three victories at No. 2 singles. She turned in straight-set wins against opponents from Portage, Highland and Hanover Central.