Highlands' tennis team preps for all-away season while courts are renovated

The girls tennis team at Highlands School District will be serving up their skills away from their home court this season while the district completes a $1 million capital project.

Court resurfacing and a revamped track at the nearby middle school are included in the work.

“Crews will come Monday and start the work. It takes 30 days to cure the asphalt so they’ll return in September to continue,” said Katie Stobert, the district’s athletic director.

The courts, which sit along 12th Avenue, will be closed to the team and community through October.

With the girls tennis season beginning this week, the 14-member team will practice and play on other courts.

Stobert said she expects practices to be held at Alsco Community Park, off Springhill Road, about a mile away.

“We only had three home matches, so they’ve been moved,” she said.

Third-year coach Vaughn Hunkele said the project, when completed, will be an advantage in drawing more players to the sport.

“It’s so exciting,” he said. “It will give the kids a great facility, and it will be great for the community.”

Hunkele graduated from Highlands in 2016 and recalls the courts being in poor shape then. Now, cracks in the court surfaces are a minor inconvenience compared to a slope near the fence, he said.

“It’s not safe for players tracking down lobs or that sort of thing,” he said. “Also, we have these really small drains that are often clogged from the pine needles nearby, and a few of them are sunken in. It’s a tripping hazard.”

Work will last the duration of the girls season, but, Hunkele said, the team is mostly sophomores and juniors, so players will get to enjoy the new courts for years to come. The boys team doesn’t start its season until spring, so they’ll be the first to smash a forehand across the new nets in 2025.

All fall matches for the girls will be played at the opponents’ courts. There will be six section matches — North Catholic, Hampton, Ellis, Indiana, Knoch and Riverview — and about five nonsection matches on the schedule.

When the Highlands School Board approved the work as part of its 2024-25 budget, Superintendent Monique Mawhinney said the tennis court upgrades were pushed back.

“Now, they are on their last legs,” she said.