Tennis insider: New coach to lead Lady Vandals

VANDALIA – For the first time in 18 seasons, a new face is at the helm of the Vandalia Community High School girls tennis team.

Dana Kern will begin her first season as head coach of the Lady Vandals on Monday against Roxana, replacing Kevin Schroeder, who resigned from his position after last season, citing family reasons.

Kern – a VCHS Athletic Hall of Famer, who made the state tennis tournament in her senior season – said she is excited to start giving back to a program she fell in love with when she was younger.

“I’ve always loved tennis,” she said. “In high school, it truly become a very close second (favorite sport) to basketball for me.”

Kern will coach her first match on Monday against Roxana – a team which beat the Lady Vandals, 7-2, in a very competitive match last season – and she is hopeful that the margin will be closer, and hopefully in Vandalia’s favor.

“What I hear from the girls is that we were successful against them (despite the loss),” Kern said. “I have high hopes for it, and I hope we can come away with a win.”

Next Tuesday, Vandalia will face Shelbyville at home. The Lady Vandals beat the Lady Rams, 6-3, last season.

Both matches will begin at 4 p.m.

Leading off

There are five seniors on the tennis team this fall, and Kern has been impressed by their leadership so far in practice.

“It’s been exciting, because I have good group of girls,” Kern said. “I have a lot of veterans back, and they have definitely been a good asset for me.

“We’ve had really good leadership,” she said. “I have quite a few freshmen and some people who haven’t played before, so the seniors have been good positive role models for them.”

Included in the senior class are Karlee Brimberry, Kendall Leander, Megan Dothager, Kristyn Nichols and Alexandria Schroeder.

Tournament week

This week has been dubbed “tournament week” in practice, as Kern works to figure out who will be in her top six next Monday.

Through Friday, the Lady Vandals will be playing matches against each other during practice – getting in games against the best players on the team, the average players on the team and the first-year players without much experience.

“I love individual skill drills at practice, because it allows me, as a coach, to pick out different areas to makes corrections,” Kern said. “But I truly believe that the best practice they get is in game situations like this, where they play different players of all different calibers.

“It’s good experience for all of them, because they are able to teach and learn from each other.”