ROCHELLE — Head coach Lizzie Cartwright has been spending time throughout the summer getting to know many of the new players who are competing for the Rochelle Lady Hub varsity tennis team this season. Cartwright, who returns for the 2024 season after stepping away from the program last year for maternity leave, will look to those new players to emerge this fall.

The Lady Hubs, who held their first fall practice of the 2024 season on Monday afternoon, will hold their first match against Harlem on Monday, Aug. 26 at 4:30 p.m. Despite graduating large senior classes over the last two years, Rochelle will once again look to its returning seniors for leadership and production at the varsity level this fall. The Lady Hubs will seek to build on a 6-9 overall record and an 0-5 record in the Interstate 8 Conference, where Rochelle finished sixth.

“I’m very excited to be back and I have a lot of new faces I’m getting to know,” Cartwright said. “I’m excited to see where the season goes and have some fun. We had great numbers for both the boys and the girls during our open courts in the summer. A lot of our players are new to the sport and we worked on building their foundation and all the skills they need to play the game.”

Rochelle will be replacing five varsity starters from last season including singles players Elin Zheng and Kara Martinez as well as doubles players Macenzie Glosser, Annaleigh McKinney and Allison Dickey. The Lady Hubs will also be without doubles player Riley Doyle, who had offseason surgery and intends to fill a team manager role, according to Cartwright. Returning seniors Kitty Williams and Erin Murphy are two notable varsity starters back this fall.

“A lot of our senior girls who are back will need to step up,” Cartwright said. “We want our girls to remember where they started this season and we want them to get a little better every day.”

Seniors Kendyl Darby and Abby Metzger are two more players who could fill varsity roles when the Lady Hubs take the court this season. Rochelle also welcomes a new addition to its coaching staff, with Randy Paisley set to assist after longtime coach Jeff Truckenbrod retired last year. Truckenbrod will be inducted into the RTHS Athletic Hall of Fame this year.