Three members of the Manitowoc Lincoln girls tennis team will hit the court for the WIAA State Tennis meet today (October 15th).
Manitowoc Lincoln has a rich and deep tradition in tennis. Every October and/or May June, you can count on at least one student-athlete punching their ticket to state.
This fall is no exception. Paige Cotton has been involved in various levels of coaching tennis in Manitowoc, with this being her first season as Head coach of the Ships girls’ varsity program.
“Freshman Ava Wetenkamp qualified in singles and seniors Ellie Camacho and Julia Jagemann will play in doubles,” she explained. “This is so awesome, and I’m so proud of all of them. I’m honored to be their coach.”
Wetenkamp spoke to us about heading to the big dance.
“I’m excited to be going to state as a freshman,” she explained. “I’m grateful for the opportunity and prepared to compete against the best players in the sport and hopefully come away with a few victories.”
Ava finished runner-up in sectionals while Ellie and Julia had to sweat it out.
They were eliminated in the opening round of sectionals, meaning their season was, for all intents and purposes, over.
A wild card opportunity opened, and their head coach nominated them to fill the spot.
Julia admitted she was “freaking out because I really wanted to go and had planned on going to watch anyway. I had been aware that a wildcard opportunity had opened, but I didn’t want to say anything right away. I didn’t want to jinx myself, but when I found out, I was smiling ear to ear and went downstairs to tell my parents.”
Her doubles partner, Ellie, admitted she wasn’t quite as excited, but once she realized that she’d get another chance to play with one of her best friends, she was all in.
Ellie on why she and Julia work so well together.
“We hang out at school quite a bit,” she revealed. “Over the winter, we worked hard to get a feel for what each other liked best. Julia favors the forehand while I’m more comfortable with the backhand and continued communicating to improve our game, and all the hard work has paid off.”
All the hay is now in the proverbial barn, and these student athletes will experience the ultimate moment of their careers.
Coach Cotton has these final words for her kids: “Enjoy the experience, create a lot of great memories, and just have fun.”
Wetenkamp (16-3) plays her first match at 11:45 a.m. against senior Milena Halberg of Sun Prairie West (15-7), while Ellie and Julia (9-10) meet seniors Addison Becker and Mayah Skenadore (22-5) of Racine Park/Horlick at 1:00 p.m.
