ROCHELLE — Despite losing nearly every varsity starter from last season, the Rochelle Lady Hub tennis team reloaded with a new blend of junior and senior athletes this season. While the program will once again be tasked with replenishing almost all of its starting varsity slots, head coach Lizzie Cartwright is optimistic about the underclassmen eligible to return next fall.

Rochelle finished with a 4-12 overall record and a 1-4 record in the Interstate 8 Conference, collecting wins over Kaneland, DeKalb, Sterling and Newman Central Catholic. The Lady Hubs fielded two medalists at the Harlem Invitational and brought home several awards during their home tournament, where Rochelle took second as a team. The Lady Hubs played their best tennis at the end of the season, placing third overall in the IHSA 1A Rochelle Sectional.

“I saw a lot of growth this season in terms of their communication,” Cartwright said. “Whether it was a doubles team or a singles player, I saw a lot of positive talk and a lot of perseverance during matches. This group of girls had really good sportsmanship. They carried themselves well on and off the courts and I thought they represented Rochelle really well this season.”

Rochelle leaned heavily on its senior class to fill slots and deliver results at the varsity level. Despite concluding the season with four victories, the Lady Hubs came within one point of beating three other opponents (Belvidere, Mendota and Streator) and were only shut out three times. Moreover, Rochelle saw two seniors (Catherine Williams and Erin Murphy) qualify for the state tournament and become the program’s third state-qualifying duo since the pandemic.

“These seniors filled a lot of varsity positions this year and they contributed a lot to our team wins,” Cartwright said. “They had great personalities that they brought to practice and they were really approachable for the underclassmen. It’s been awesome to have so many new girls out there trying to learn tennis. We’re happy to have them and coach [Randy] Paisley and I have worked hard to develop the players. It was nice to have another big group of seniors this year.”

Williams and Murphy are two of the seven senior starters who will depart from the program after this season. Rochelle will also lose Abby Metzger, Lauren Dyer, Natalie Wagner and Sydney Carmichael in doubles as well as Yaretzi Villalobos in singles. Junior Merit Namaste-Rose, who earned an Interstate 8 All-Conference Honorable Mention in singles this season, headlines the Lady Hubs eligible to return next fall. Cartwright also said that junior Jaicee Ramos, as well as sophomores Abby Losoya and Vivian Novak, could emerge as varsity contributors next year.

“I’m excited because we had a few more underclassmen this year than we’ve had over the past few years,” Cartwright said. “We’re already looking ahead to next season and we’re thinking about where we can put some of our players. We have more of an idea of what we can be doing next season… Abby always gives her best effort and she really listens to what we’re teaching her. She and Vivian played doubles quite a bit and they could potentially be a doubles team. Abby’s pretty quick and Vivian has nice volleys and puts shots away at the net.”