Serving Up Success: Home court advantage fuels tennis program

Unicoi County High School tennis coach Mallory Jackson saw many bright spots in her team's 2025 season and expects to build on the positive points from last year going into the 2026 tennis season. "The 2025 tennis season was an exciting year for the UCHS boys and girls tennis teams," Jackson said. "For the first time in five years, we were able to host home matches on the new tennis courts. This not only eliminated the need to travel for practice courts and regular season matches, butcreated a home court advantage. We saw an increase in participation, encouraging more students to join the team, and also it drew larger crowds to support the athletes." She lost only two seniors from last year's roster, Kenya Montejano-Reyes and Logan Bennett, while adding new talent to the mix. "Since last year, we have added new players who have been working hard along with our returning players," she said. "They've found a variety of opportunities to improve in the off-season, so much so that I have high expectations for good results." Jackson added, "Our girl's team captain, Katie Adkins, is a player with well-executed strokes and mental toughness. Anna Crutchfield, who has participated in cross country, has a tenacious drive to win. Abigail Kneisley, our only senior, brings experience and a competitive focus." Likewise, she sees considerable potential in her boys team. "The boy's captain, Isaac Harris, has a steady, consistent game, using mental strategy," Jackson said. "Paul Johnson has a strong serve and immense pace in his groundstrokes. Then we have Cole Tilson, an all-court player who loves transitioning to the net." The first match scheduled for the season was again Johnson County on March 19. Jackson reflected on her time as coach. "I started out as an assistant coach with Karla Keesecker for a few years, and now this is my third season as head coach," Jackson said. "It has truly been a joy to work on building the program and teaching the younger generation to have a love for the game." She noted, "Participation has increased over the past few years, but with the addition of the middle school club team, I anticipate an even higher increase in interest." Jackson considers the 2025 season a great one for both the girls and boys tennis teams. "The boys were in a building year, given that it was the first year in a few that we had a full team," she said. "They fought every match and improved so much over the season." She added, "Our girls team won Districts and hosted Regionals here in Unicoi against Alcoa. Unfortunately they fell short, resulting in a loss, 2-4, but that doesn't take away from the consistent level of play all season." Jackson knows the importance of having a feeder program to keep talent rising into the high school teams. "We created a co-ed club tennis team called the Junior Devils and plan on participating in the league again this fall," she said. "It was a wonderful experience and so encouraging to see that there was an interest at the middle school level." Jackson said the Junior Devils had players ranging from fifth to eighth grade that quickly picked up the game. "It was mainly a girls team this year with only two boys, but I'm hoping for a few more next season," Jackson said. "Hopefully these players continue and bring their game to the high school level in a couple years."