Wildcats wrap up tennis campaign as girls reflect on court evolution

As students get into the academic swing of things, the girl’s tennis team was busy serving up its fall season. The highly competitive and intense season came to an end for the Wildcats on October 7 after losing some tough battles at subsectionals. 

The closing of the season has been bittersweet, closing the chapter of fall sports for many of the girls, including senior and number two singles player Kiara Deppiesse.

“I think I will definitely miss going to invites and spending the whole day with the team or practices because it’s just a nice time to decompress and recap the day with other players,” she said. “Tennis is a good way to kind of release all the stress from the day because I could literally just like hit the ball and take my anger out. 

Although Deppiesse started playing tennis casually, the sport quickly became more than just something to do.

photo by Novally Thao

“I originally joined tennis because Coach Bouzek had talked about it in my freshman year algebra class. I didn’t play a fall sport, so I was just looking for something to do during the fall because I’m a track athlete,” she said. “After my sophomore season, I went to the YMCA tennis center and started doing lessons with pros Bob and Brian. I became more consistent there, doing privates and group lessons during the off season.”

Deppiesse found that she was able to apply the skills she learned in lessons to her matches in season.

“I’d say I have developed strategically and mentally compared to my junior season. Last year, I played a lot of easy competition, so I could still win my matches and win at invites without any strategy at all,” she said. “Four singles just wasn’t very strategically demanding compared to two singles on varsity this year, so I think I developed strategically and then mentally.” 

Junior and number three singles player Aubrey Epprecht believes that this season allowed for her to grow into her role as a key player.

“I feel I grew immensely this season and became a more consistent and aggressive player,” she said. “I’ve learned that if I put my mind to something, I can accomplish it, and I can’t wait to learn even more about myself next season and continue to grow as an athlete and a person.”

Epprecht accredits her love for tennis to the team’s positive culture.

“The highlight of the season for me was probably winning my match against Manitowoc Lincoln in a tiebreak, which got us the win as a team,” she said. “Everyone was cheering. It was such an amazing match, and our first win as a team.”

Assistant varsity coach and special education teacher Jacob Beno finds that the tight team culture and mentality has been a highlight in his coaching.

“This season has been good. The girls are always nice and funny,” he said. “It’s fun to be connected to a school group that is outside of pure academics.”

The close-knit team was able to grow closer together during overnight invites, which consisted of up to four matches over the span of two days playing against competitive teams from around the state. This was a major highlight of the season for senior and number three doubles player Leah Moen.

“The Brookfield invite was my favorite because it kicked the season off on a good note and helped Riley and I get to know each other and learn each other’s strengths,” she said. “Not only was it fun that Riley and I swept the invite, but it was also nice getting to know my team.”

Aside from invites, a highlight among the team was senior night, where the entire team and parents got to celebrate the commitment of the graduating seniors. 

“I thought senior night was pretty cool,” Beno said. “It was just a good, kind of family oriented event. It seemed like it was just a good night for team culture.” 

Deppiesse enjoyed the farewell celebration with her closest teammates. 

“I think my favorite moment of the season was senior night. It was just a great way to spend and celebrate the tennis season with all the other seniors on the team,” she said. “I’m close with some other underclassmen, but the seniors are the ones that I’ve been playing tennis with throughout the past three seasons. It’s just nice for us to all be together, celebrate one another, and just kind of enjoy each other’s company.”

Senior and exhibition player Kerrigan Kimball also enjoyed the community aspect of senior night.

“I loved just hanging out with my friends, and it was just a fun night,” she said. “We had a lot of fun after our matches finished while we waited for JV to finish up, and it was just so nice getting to see all of my friends and family.” 

For Deppiesse, invites weren’t only a time to play in competitive matches, but also a time to get to know one another better.

“I’ll miss the team dinner and the car rides to invites,” she said. “Those are just a fun time to connect and boost morale.”

Beno enjoyed the extra opportunity to bond during invites.

“The car rides to tournaments were also pretty fun to joke around and stuff.” 

Although Beno now works hard at the assistant varsity coach position, he wasn’t always a tennis player. In fact, he accredits a lot of his coaching skills to his experience in running cross country.

“My background as a cross country runner has helped me know what it takes to put in work towards something, getting better everyday, and getting over that mental toughness.” 

Facing mental challenges is a major part of tennis that every player encounters.

“I’m very hard on myself and any time I do slightly bad, it ruins my whole mood,” Kimball said. “I had a lot of mental struggles, but I stayed optimistic and continued to be more positive to overcome them.”

For Epprecht, a large challenge this season was changing positions on the team.

“Playing singles was a major adjustment, and prior to this season I had never done it before,” she said. “I had little expectations going into my first singles season, but I ended up with a decent record and learned so much.” 

Although it may have originally posed a challenge to Epprecht, it ended up working out alright.

“If you asked me last season, I would have said I prefer doubles without a doubt, but after this season I’ve actually grown to love singles,” she said. 

Overcoming these predicaments has been a pivotal part of the season and helps the players improve over time. Beno is looking forward to what is coming up next fall. 

“I’m excited to see how much people improve over the offseason, and to see what we can do next season,” he said. 

Although many seniors are graduating and will no longer rep the Wildcat jerseys, many still intend to play tennis. 

“I’m not planning to play for a college, but I am planning to join a club or a league at whatever college I end up at,” said Moen. 

Deppiesse sees tennis as being a part of her life for the foreseeable future.

“I definitely do expect to play tennis later in life just because it’s a sport that you could play until you’re 80 or 90 years old. It’s not like football where you can only play in high school and college, you’re able to play as you age,” she said. “I think tennis will be in my life forever.”

by Zosia Bowlus-Jasinski

Published November 3, 2025

Oshkosh West Index Volume 122 Issue II