University High tennis players Jordan Havert, Graham Mefford, Kyrylo Hnatusko, Gavin Olsen and Brady Weems pose with their District 1-A championship medals.
University High tennis players Jordan Havert, Graham Mefford, Kyrylo Hnatusko, Gavin Olsen and Brady Weems pose with their District 1-A championship medals.
University High fielded tennis teams for the first time in three decades last season with a pair of state semifinal finishes.
In addition, the boys’ doubles team of Graham Mefford and Kyrylo Hnatusko won the state doubles championship and the girls team of Lily Mefford and Jordan Havert reached the girls’ quarterfinals. Lily Mefford was state singles runner-up the previous year competing for Unicoi County.
With University High returning all of its roster, tennis coach Matt Trivett believes the sky is the limit for this year’s team.
“We got everybody back, but we’re still young other than Hnatusko is a senior,” Trivett said. “He went undefeated in the district as did Graham Mefford. Honestly, we’re super strong at No. 3 and 4 with a couple of basketball players in Brady Weems and Gavin Olsen. They’re easy to coach because they know how to compete. I genuinely believe this team has a chance to win the state.”
Josh Stricler, Ayana Sethi, Tyler Degennaro and Swink Hutchinson rounds out the talented roster.
The Bucs have racked up so far with the boys and girls teams both winning District 1-A championships. They’ve also seen Graham Mefford and Hnatusko repeat as district doubles champs. Brady Weems won boys’ singles and Gavin Olsen finished runner up.
They also had the top two in girls’ singles with Havert winning and Lily Mefford runner-up. The rest of the girls’ roster includes Kaylee Degennaro, Sophia Villanueva, Priya Lewis, Danielle Thomas and Lauren Harvey.
“I really feel our girls have a shot at winning the state as well,” Trivett said. “You can always run into a buzzsaw and you can’t control that, but the girls are mentally ready to play. We’ve played some good opponents like Tennessee High, Science Hill and Greeneville. We’re battled tested and don’t think we will see anyone at state as good as Tennessee High or Science Hill.”
Trivett has been pleased how his teams have competed against the larger schools and how they’ve built upon last season’s success.
“We have everyone who contributed last year back with the exception of one boy,” Trivett said. “It’s exciting with one girl going to Brown University and one kid going to UNC Chapel Hill. They’re a very gifted group academically and obviously, we want to go as far as we can on the tennis courts this season.”
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