Willamette Tennis Teams Battle the Smoke and Protocols in order to Practice

By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

SALEM, Ore. -- It has taken some work and creative scheduling, but the Willamette University men's tennis and women's tennis teams have been able to practice this fall. They recently finished their third week of practice despite limitations from COVID-19 protocols, smoke from wildfires in September, and days impacted by wind or rain.

After nearly completing three weeks of practice the teams got together for a socially-distance meeting on Thursday, Oct. 8. During the gathering, team members competed using wooden tennis racquets.

"We had a mixer with both teams and planned a pizza party at the end," Director of Tennis and Head Coach Rick Wood explained. "The pizza never showed up and we found out later that the delivery person apparently took off with the pizzas."

Even so, it was a great time for the teams to meet each other and socialize.

Wood explained the process of both teams eventually getting to practice this fall. He noted that initially it looked as though the teams might have limited competition against outside teams. However, due to COVID protocols and concerns for the health of student-athletes, it was determined that none of Willamette's teams would take on opposing teams during the fall semester.

"Once we found out we were not going to have a season, we decided to continue to practice until winter break," Wood commented. "We were able to get one week of practice in before the fires and smoke shut all sports down for two weeks. The ash from the fires closed our courts down for five days for cleaning, so we lost another week of practice."

Eventually, the teams were able to return to the courts for the past two weeks.

In other tennis news, Wood announced the hiring of Gene Perle-Jones as an assistant coach this fall. Perle-Jones hopes to return to the team as a player during the spring season.

There are a total of five newcomers on the Willamette tennis teams. The men's team features first-year players Pete Emerson (Fy., Salem, OR/West Salem HS) and Jesus Barocio Garibay (Fy., Salem, OR/McKay HS). First-year members of the women's tennis team are Ruby Blake (Fy., La Crosse, WI/Central HS), Ruby Thompson (Fy., Bay City, OR/Tillamook HS), and McKenna Turner (Fy., Junction City, OR/Junction City HS). All five of the new tennis players are from Oregon.

As with other Willamette teams, the tennis squads have had to adapt to COVID protocols in order to practice. They have managed to find a way to succeed.

"It has been really hard for all players and coaches to play, practice and coach while wearing a mask all the time," Wood said. "We are hopeful to have a few more weeks of dry weather to keep working on everyone's game before we shut down for the winter. I also hope to have another time for both teams to hang out (6 feet apart) and get to know all of the players."