BDHS Girls Tennis Looks To Serve Up Big Season

The Beaver Dam High School girls tennis team brings a veteran squad back to the court with hopes of building off of last season’s Badger North Conference championship.  Even though they won’t have the opportunity to defend their conference crown, head coach Ryan Radig tells DailyDodge.com that his team will still have high expectations to be successful every time they take the court.

Despite losing four-time state qualifier Morgan Nelson to graduation, the Golden Beavers return eight varsity players, including six seniors who lettered last year for the team.  With the large number of girls back, Radig says he has a good idea where most of the girls will fit into his roster, but may move a few players around to field the best lineup they can. He loves that the girls all understand their roles on the team, and trust he will put them in the best position to be successful.

Radigs says that four-year varsity player and two-time state qualifier Hannah Budde will see plenty of action on the court this season.   He says Budde may see some time at #1 singles and also be paired with three-year varsity player Madelyn Connaughty at #1 doubles.  He says he really likes the athleticism of senior Abby Okon and will work to find a good partner for her in doubles.   Radig expects Lindsay Propst and Riley Smith to compete for his top singles positions along with Grayce Klawitter.  He adds that Brooklyn Torres and Emily Gabel also saw doubles time last year and made great improvements over the summer.

Radig says one of his main themes for building his program into consistent conference contenders is to be “Boringly Good.”  He expects his players to work hard in practice and master basic shots.  He stresses to that his student-athletes should never give up a free point, make other teams work hard, hustle for every ball, and get to a ball you maybe didn’t think you could have gotten to.  He likes to force his players out of their comfort zone in practice, which is something they can carry over into life.  He says constant drill work at practice has paid off as they have won nearly 80 matches over the last four seasons.

With no official Badger North Conference championship to compete for this year, Radig says the team still has high expectations.  He says that they have nine matches scheduled and that despite some tough competition they will enter every dual meet with the expectation that they will win.

The WIAA has stated that they will do their best to sponsor some sort of postseason tournament, so individually his top girls will set their sights on qualifying for the season ending event, whatever it may be.   Bottom line, Radig says, that he wants his team to win a lot of matches, try to improve, and have fun during this most unique season.

The Golden Beavers open up their season on Tuesday, August 25th when they host Portage at the BDHS tennis courts.  The match begins at 11am.

Click HERE to view this year’s BDHS girls tennis schedule

Click the link to hear a complete interview with BDHS Girls Tennis Coach Ryan Radig

If you have a question about this story or have an idea for a future local sports story, please email Wade Bates at ddsports@goodkarmabrands.com