By Rick Cassano
HARRISON - Dave Williams is looking forward to seeing what his Harrison High School girls tennis team can become.
The 12th-year coach has five sophomores on his nine-player varsity roster and likes the potential, but Williams knows there will be growing pains.
"I think we have a good base," he said. "We've got lots of young players, which is fine. Coach (Andy) Zureick did a great job with a lot of these girls that moved up this year to get them ready. Varsity is a little bit different style of game, but it's a good group of girls. I look forward to our progression through this year, but also in the upcoming years."
The Wildcats defeated visiting Northwest 4-1 on Tuesday after opening the season with a 5-0 loss to Ursuline (B) last week. Harrison also competed in a tournament at Wilmington last Saturday, though play wasn't finished because of inclement weather.
Williams said the conquest of Northwest was simultaneously good and not so good. Winning is enjoyable, but he felt the Wildcats showed their youth.
"We didn't really have practice yesterday and just had a little hit session, and I don't think we took the hit session as seriously as we should have," Williams said. "I think it definitely bled over into our match today. In tennis, you can't practice one way and then play a different way. Hopefully we'll learn that quick."
Ella Price, Alyssa Davidson and Kendra Enderle as Harrison's seniors. Nora Croft is a junior, while Hailey Hannan, Carrie Parsons, Avery Turner, Caroline Wetherill and Elsa Williams are the sophomores.
Hannan won at No. 2 singles and Wetherill was victorious at No. 3 against Northwest. Price and Parsons (No. 1) and Croft and Turner (No. 2) also notched straight-set wins in doubles action.
Price is the captain and a veteran player. The Wildcats lost 10 seniors from last year's team, a fact that has led to the youth movement in 2026.
"There is some rebuilding happening," Price said. "We lost a lot of players, so going in this year, it was a little iffy on what we would have. Having some younger players on the varsity team, it's nice that we can still get some wins and have some accomplishments this year."
Price has played a lot of doubles during her time at Harrison and teamed up with Emily Benight last season. Now it's time to grow together with Parsons.
"I definitely like to have a good relationship with whoever I'm playing with," Price said.
Harrison doesn't have year-round players at this point and only one Wildcat has ever advanced through sectional play to districts - that was Makenna Williams, the coach's daughter, in 2019. Dave Williams is encouraging more offseason work to boost the Wildcats' Division I postseason hopes in the fall.
"I'm hoping after this season to talk to all of them about signing up for USTA and getting some matches in through tournaments," Williams said. "It's hard to grow in season. We can fine-tune things, but the 10 months that we're not here is where that growth is going to come from.
"I think we have a few that have that itch. They can see what can happen if they put more work into it. We've tried to build a culture of tennis here. I know it's not the main sport, but I think we've built a good family of tennis. This year's going to be a huge learning year and that's perfectly OK, and next year might be the same thing. But when these younger kids get to their senior year, we'll give ourselves a better chance at sectionals."
Price said the players do take it seriously, but she said fun has to be the priority.
"It's almost not about wins as a team for me," Price said. "I just want to have fun as a team, even if we're not necessarily winning all the matches. It's about having a good team spirit."
Williams said the Wildcats had good attendance at open courts over the summer, a positive sign for the program. He said the team has some camaraderie.
"The girls get along as a core," Williams said. "Coach Zureick and I do a good job of communicating. We're not yellers, and I do believe the girls are good listeners. They do ask questions about how to fix things. We have some girls who are learning small nuances that are going to make a huge difference."
Harrison travels to Taylor on Thursday.
Harrison 4, Northwest 1
Singles
No. 1 - Zoe Kohler (N) def. Elsa Williams (H), 1-6, 6-3, 10-6
No. 2 - Hailey Hannan (H) def. Kaylee Christophel (N), 6-1, 6-4
No. 3 - Caroline Wetherill (H) def. Brianna Black (N), 6-0, 6-1
Doubles
No. 1 - Ella Price-Carrie Parsons (H) def. Lily Kohler-Gabriella Welch (N), 6-0, 6-1
No. 2 - Nora Croft-Avery Turner (H) def. Jazmine Amoako-Myliah Williams (N), 6-0, 6-0
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