By Ron Bevan

The best laid plans were already in Corner Canyon girls tennis coach Mykel Seeborg’s mind as he saw the players he had to work with this season. He knew who his singles line up would be, and the leader of the team at number one would be Addison Sepulveda. The sophomore would earn the honor with her strong play last season at number two singles, making it all the way to the state 4A championship match.

But shortly after the season began, Sepulveda was lost for several weeks with appendix surgery.

“We were looking for a big year from her,” Seeborg said. “We were excited to see what she could do. Then she was lost to us after the first match and we had to shuffle the lineup.”

In doing some shuffling, Seeborg saw an opportunity and jumped at it. Instead of having Sepulveda come back at singles, he thought he would ease her back in at doubles. This would give her time to recover from the surgery.

“It takes a bit to recover from surgery and we didn’t want to put any extra strain on her,” Seeborg said. 

Seeborg matched her with senior Lexi Redden, who helped last year’s number one doubles team reach the semifinals at state. Now, the duo looks to stay as a doubles team because of their strength together.

“They should have been my number one and number two singles players,” Seeborg said. “But together they are dominant at doubles. They want to make a good run at state and feel they are better suited to be doubles partners than a pair of singles players.”

With his doubles team cemented, Seeborg is still working on his singles roster.

“We have shuffled different players into the lineup to see what they can do,” Seeborg said. “Some have played well and some have stood out.”

Now more into the season, it looks like Reagen Holmes will be representing Corner Canyon at the number one singles. Holmes was a junior varsity player last season but has improved her game to take over the number one slot.

Number two singles now belongs to Raili Jenkins. The sophomore has moved up one slot from her number three singles last season, where she made it to the semifinals of the state tournament.

“We are still figuring out who will play number three singles for us,” Seeborg said. “But we have 30 girls on our team this season and have plenty of quality players to choose from.”

Playing at number two doubles again this season is the pair of Madeleine Dean and Savanah Sherwood. Now seniors, Dean and Sherwood played together last season and made it to the state 4A tournament.

“They had been playing number one all season before we paired Sepulveda and Redden together,” Seeborg said. “Now we are very solid in doubles play.”

Adversity also serves as a reminder and a motivator for the Chargers this season. The father of two of the players is battling ALS. But it hasn’t stopped Darrin Redden from watching his daughters Lexi and Livi, and the rest of the Chargers, during matches and even practices from his wheelchair.

“He has been a strong inspiration for all of us,” Seeborg said. “He is there cheering us on and helping out from the sidelines. With everything that went on with the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge last year bringing this disease to the forefront, it is good to see the support for him and the support he gives back.”