Marion girls tennis team reflect on things
by Brandon Leonard [email protected] · May 7th, 2020


Things were just about to get fun. The anticipation was mounting, but was set to end with the start of the 2020 tennis season for the Marion Indian girls. Coach Andrea Hansen's team had strong numbers, including 13 seniors. The COVID-19 pandemic had other plans, but that was not going to stop Hansen and assistant coach Garrette Williams from recognizing this year's team and sharing memories on their time as Indian tennis players.

Sienna Brown's favorite tennis memory will be playing "Queen of the Court" and will miss the opportunity to be out there with her teammates again. She now has plans to enroll at the University of Iowa and major in psychology.

Savannah Cleppe said she will miss the opportunity to play doubles alongside fellow senior Sadie Miller. Both noted their fondest memory as Marion tennis players was when they got pizza after a meet in Independence. Cleppe and Miller both have plans to go to Kirkwood Community College in the fall.

Patience Duval would rather wait to do some of her favorite activities like hiking, reading and traveling to new places if it meant she could play one more season of tennis at MHS. Now that Duval is shifting her focus to her next chapter in life, she aspires to be a traveling nurse.

Summer Forsblom cherishes her first career win the most as she looks back on her time as a Marion tennis player. She misses just getting out of the house and playing. Forsblom plans to major in Elementary Education in college and pursue modeling as well.

Bethany Foster will forever be able to rub in the fact she beat Coach Hansen in practice and is bummed she won't get to play doubles with Maddie Steffen. Foster has her sights set on attending Kirkwood before transferring to Iowa to become an ultrasound technician.

Brooke Glasbrenner reminisced about the time she took a tennis ball to the thigh because she wasn't paying attention when asked about her best memory. She misses how close the team gets during the season. Glasbrenner will start to chase her dream of becoming a NICU nurse in the fall.

Meghan Greene's best memory of Marion tennis is similar to Glasbrenner's, except it was when Coach Hansen ordered the players not to hit her with a tennis ball and then proceeded to get hit by an incoming ball. Greene is set to become a member of the United States Marine Corps.

Nihya Henderson wishes she could have just one more match while wearing her team's uniform. Henderson, who also participated in cheer, will go to Kirkwood in the fall and with her sights set on transferring to Iowa afterwards.

The always busy Madalyn Lovejoy will miss the meets but admitted she will miss practicing the most. Learning new skills and perfecting her craft is something she took a lot of pride in as a player. Lovejoy is set to become an Iowa Hawkeye where she will major in psychology before pursuing her doctorate to practice clinical psychology.

Sydney Sanders misses the bloopers of people hitting the ball over the fence in practice and is sad that she won't get to play in any games. Sanders, who enjoys painting, reading and hiking in her free time, is set to attend the Carlson School of Massage Therapy.

Audrey Scheel is going to miss going to the meets as well as after practice ice cream. Scheel, who values hanging out with her teammates and friends, has ambitions to attend Kirkwood before transferring to the University of Northern Iowa.

Sydney Wolverton was set to be a member of the Marion tennis team for the first time during her senior year. She looked forward to spending time with her friends while preparing for a new sport. Wolverton will transition from being a Marion Indian to a University of Wisconsin-Platteville Pioneer this fall.