Eagles tennis return four top players, aim for 17th conference championship

by Michael Smith, Grain Valley News
 
The Grain Valley girls tennis program has experienced a lot of success since its inception in 1999.

The Eagles have won conference championships in 16 out of the last 17 seasons and have a total of four district titles.

Veteran tennis coach Randy Draper and his team look to continue that success into 2025, and the Eagles will have a good chance to do so as four out of their top six players from 2024 are returning.

Grain Valley will be without their top doubles team of Cate Barnes and Brooklyn Spencer, who were undefeated during the regular season and have graduated.

However, the Eagles have plenty of experienced players coming back, including last year’s No. 3 singles player Courtney Hicks, No. 4 Delaney Thurn, No. 5 Kaelyn Clausen and No. 6 Avery Lunn. In addition to those returners, Draper said there will be opportunities for first-year varsity players to enter the fray.

Some of those players include sophomore Peyton Hazlett, who specialize in doubles last season; Gracelynn Crede; and Avery’s sister Lily Lunn.

“We’re having good competition in our challenge matches,” Draper said. “We have a lot of people who have a chance to earn some jobs on the team. It’s highly competitive. I do like our team.

“We got a sophomore and junior class that could contribute, and we have some good freshman coming up that may not have a role right now, but they will in the future.”

Hicks and Thurn will likely be the No. 1 and 2 singles players on the team and the No. 1 doubles team. This will be their third season playing doubles together.

“We have some big shoes to fill replacing Brooklyn and Cate,” Thurn said.

Hicks said she’s been working on sharpening her serves and making her forehands and backhands more consistent.

“I have been working on a new second serve with some spin,” Hicks said.

Thurn said her strength is consistency, but she is working on putting more velocity into her shots.

“I am working on power and better placement,” Thurn said.

While Thurn and Hicks have experience playing with each other and could be a solid doubles team, the other duos on the Eagles have work to do before the season starts, Draper said.

“We have work to do in doubles,” Draper said. “I don’t think we’re good enough yet, but we will be. We will fix some things.”

For the Eagles’ third senior, Clausen, she anticipates playing doubles this season after specializing in singles in 2024. She also has a big goal in mind.

“I want to be one of the top three singles players,” she said. “I have been training and hitting a lot of forehands and backhands. I have been training hard.”

The Eagles’ season opener will be on Sept. 2 against Blue Springs South at home.

From left, Delaney Thurn, Courtney Hicks and Kaelyn Clausen are three seniors with varsity experience, who will help lead the 2025 Grain Valley girls tennis team. Photo credit: Michael Smith
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