Clovis tennis team has new, familiar elements

CLOVIS — Even with a pair of new coaches, and promises of a new facility soon, there's still some familiarity for the Clovis High tennis programs.

The boys and girls teams, which open the season Friday at Lovington's Wildcat Open, are each dealing with losing three or four seniors from last season. That's a rounding error in football, but it matters on tennis teams that usually only boast seven varsity members.

New coach Brad Heath thinks Clovis should be competitive going into the season opener.

"I think we've got a good chance in three out of five matches," Heath said. "We don't have our No. 1 player for boys because of an injury, and we don't have our No. 1 girls player due to college visits this weekend. We're really bringing a new team down (to Lovington)."

Senior J'Lea Fuqua expects a high learning curve. She played mostly No. 5 singles last year, and she's the probable No. 1 singles player for Clovis' weekend matches.

"It's really different, it's a lot to take on," Fuqua said. "I know how the other No. 1 girls are. I know that the competition is going to be really high."

Heath has never been a head coach before, but he has 25 years of tennis coaching experience and runs the summer tennis program for Clovis Community College. He'll admit the varsity inexperience is evident, but he sees plenty of reasons for optimism.

"A good thing right now," Heath said, "is we've got a boy and a girl who are seniors that just started working with us. (Abby Williams and Dyllin Gallegos) have done very well for their short time playing."

Also, Heath isn't a stranger to the Clovis program, coached last season by Brenna Silveira. He has two sons on the varsity team, sophomore David and freshman Brandon, and plenty of current Wildcats have gotten help from him on improving their games.

"Over the years, he's taught me and J'Lea basic fundamentals. It's somebody we're familiar with, and it's been an easy transition."

Heath will largely be coaching the boys, and Russell Johnson will coach the girls.

Johnson has never coached before, but he's got 40 years of experience playing and he has long had Heath's trust on the court. Johnson admitted the teams are pretty young entering the season, but the players have had great attitudes over the last few weeks of workouts.

Next season, Heath said, the program will be able to boast a new facility. The current courts have parking lots to the north and south; the new courts will be pushed to the north with a larger single parking lot. Most importantly, Heath said, the courts will be post-tensioned and less threatened by weather extremes.

Heath credits Deputy Superintendent of Operations Carrie Bunce for the time she's taken with the project, said he isn't sure when the approximate two months of work will start. He just knows at some point, he'll have to find another place to hold practice.