Yelm’s girls tennis team entered its final match of the regular season against River Ridge on May 2 atop the South Sound Conference standings with an 11-1 conference record and 12-1 overall record. After posting a match score of 5-0, the Tornados swept the Hawks to secure a first-place finish in the SSC prior to the conference tournament.
Prior to the 5-0 win over River Ridge, the Tornados celebrated 10 soon-to-be graduates competing in their final matches at Yelm High School on senior day. The student athletes honored were Madison Stone, Alyssa Ellsworth, Serenity Stepanek, McKaylee Beaudin, Marie Essel, Anna Silhavikova, Chloe Corak, Henlee Sherman, Kailyn Emmons and Samantha Burian.
“It’s a really fun group to work with. They’re enjoying the game as well as improving and having success. Of my varsity, seven of the eight are seniors,” head coach Mike McClellan said. “[The pandemic] caught these kids as they were going into high school. Most of these girls have stuck with it and have been in the program for all four years. It’s the love of the game and commitment they made to themselves, and that carries over to a team commitment. I’m really proud of the fact that they did stick with it. They’re fun kids to work with. They’re excited about the game, and they’re working hard.”
McClellan said the team has beaten some “pretty good competition” along the way to securing a first-place SSC finish, prior to the conference tournament.
“It feels good to be on top of the conference,” McClellan said. “The last couple years we’ve been second or third, and sometimes it’s just the way the season turns out. They’ve stuck it out through the COVID years, and we had enough seniors left that were leaders, were committed, and the other teams had lost a lot of people. We had more kids that were committed over that whole period of their high school, and now it’s paying off at the right time.”
Prior to sweeping River Ridge 5-0, the Tornados also picked up shutout victories versus Central Kitsap on April 30 and against Peninsula on May 1.
Following the conclusion of the regular season, McClellan said a seeding committee determined how each member of the SSC would be seeded in the conference tournament. Results were not available at press time.
The tournament itself is set for Friday, May 10 and Saturday, May 11, at Central Kitsap High School. McClellan said the top five teams from the tournament will advance to districts, where the top seven placers at that event will advance to state.
“Hopefully, we should get some pretty good seeds and get us through that tournament in good shape,” McClellan said.
Despite losing 10 seniors at the conclusion of the 2024 season, McClellan said the Tornados will still be a competitive program in 2025 and beyond.
“A lot of that is going to depend on how much time in the offseason they want to put into it,” McClellan said. “They could get into our summer program and be involved in some tournaments. I’m pretty excited, especially about the freshmen class. Give us a year, and we’ll see what happens.”
Throughout the past several seasons, McClellan has received a needed helping hand from assistant coach Shonda Carrier. He said the addition of Carrier on the staff several seasons ago has been huge for the YHS tennis program.
“When you have 30-plus girls out, it makes a lot of difference being able to keep the kids active throughout practices and at matches,” McClellan said. “She’s a big part of this. I’ve done years and years without having an assistant coach, but she’s stepped up big in recent years.”
