Last season was U women’s tennis coach Megan Payne-Dorny’s first year on the job, yet this is the year she believes the program will finally get the fresh start it needs.
After a mass exodus of players, for various reasons, Dorny was only left with three returning players. Last year’s squad struggled to post a 7-17 record and fought to a sixth-place finish at the MWC Championships.
But now, she believes that she finally has a team that is hers.
“It’s kind of nice to have the players that you recruited on the team because it feels like it is your team,” Dorny said.
However, before it could become “her” team, many players flew the coop. Their departure had a lot to do with problems with Dorny, considering her age of 23 and her recent switch from assistant coach to head coach.
“It was a tough switch for me, because the players thought of me as an assistant coach the year before-which means I deal with a lot of their problems-while as a head coach I have to be more of a disciplinarian,” Dorny said.
The switch, according to Dorny, did not sit too well with some of the players.
“They were all great girls, but it may have just been hard for them to accept my role as a head coach and that I had to be hard on them,” Dorny said.
Not only did the switch from assistant to head coach make a difference in the way the players viewed her, but the fact that she was so young may have hurt the players’ level of respect for Dorny’s authority.
“It puts things in perspective when you think that I was coaching a player in Cassie Kasteler last season, who I actually played with as a member of the tennis team,” Dorny said.
But now, only Sheri Esrock, Allison Hansen and Rachel Alder remain from a roster that once contained nine players.
Dorny believes she has found the right players that will come in and, in due time, lead the team in the right direction.
“What I think we have now are nine very solid players,” she said. “It will be interesting to see who will step up because we are in a position to prove a lot. I would love to bring the team back to national prominence.”
Two of the six newcomers to the team are from Utah. Jessica Watts and Ashley Young are freshmen, while Jenessa Jackson is a transfer from San Diego State and will begin her Utah career as a sophomore.
Jen Wencel is coming in from Austin, Texas and Whitney Eber from Naples, Fla.
Freshman Cynthia Saucevo, who hails from Mexico, rounds out the newcomers.
Although the team is looking at a majority of new faces, Esrock, a senior, seems to be the clear leader of the team, considering her experience.
“She always plays very well and is extremely confident,” Dorny said. “She has a good forehand and may be looked upon for a leadership role.”
Other than Esrock, the team is one big wild card, but Dorny thinks the team will perform well.
“We play in a very strong conference, but we have a lot of talent on this team and I am excited to get it going with them,” she said. “With some time I can see this team heading in the right direction.”
Even though she is starting with a relatively new team, Dorny has not forgotten what she learned in her first year as head coach.
“We did OK last year and I learned a ton on how to do things in the future because this whole job is a constant learning process,” she said. “I got some great ideas, and I know how I want things to go from now on.”
With six new players on the team, the chance for immediate success is remote, while the chances for long-term success is completely up in the air.
Even with low expectations for the team for the coming season, Dorny is pretty much out of excuses, and her true ability as a coach will be tested during the next couple of years.
This year’s team, however, while talented, will be extremely raw and won’t be expected to show much improvement just yet.