Manitowoc Lincoln four-year tennis letter-winner and state qualifier, Olivia Minikel, has held a dream since she was 5 years old.
That’s to win a state title and this weekend the talented Ships senior has an opportunity to make it a reality.
Olivia and three of her teammates leave for Madison and the WIAA State Individual Tennis Tournament.
After a 29-and-0 season to date, Minikel received the #1 seed among all competitors in the Division-1 bracket and a first-round bye.
During a practice Monday evening (October 9th) at the YMCA, she shared her thoughts about the ranking.
“I mean there’s always going to be nerves,” she admitted. “I know there’s a lot of pressure, everyone expects a lot out of me and I expect a lot out of myself, so you just got to take it one match at a time and see what happens.”
Coach Stephanie Henschel spoke about the tried and true philosophy when competing at this level.
“We’re not going to worry about the end product here. Let’s just worry one at a time and just enjoy it,” she explained. “As we get further in, the strategy is going to change and the stress is going to be a little bit more. But we’re not going to look so far ahead and haven’t really talked about the podium yet. Last year at this time we were, but this year we just haven’t.”
Joining Minikel at Nielsen Stadium this weekend are Lincoln’s special qualifiers Jordin Popp at 27-and-2 and the doubles tandem of Taylor Peterson and Zylia Kleinfeldt at 19-and-8.
Jordin told us she’s only been playing tennis for a year a half.
“I’ve been doing softball for many years and I started tennis in 8th grade. And then I just kind of been playing it more and more and falling in love with it,” she told Seehafer News. “I don’t think any of us saw this coming but seeing it now, I’m happy.”
Coach Stephanie Henschel
Peterson returns to state her sophomore year with a new playing partner in Kleinfeldt, who is a junior.
Peterson tells us their team up has been “really fun. We get along really well and we always have fun. It’s never too serious.”
Kleinfeldt said it is great to be teamed with an athlete who has been to state before because “I get to ask her questions about things from last year and it I feel better about it then because it’s not just me by myself.”
Coach Henschel has a simple message for her athletes.
“I just want them to play their best, really check out their opponents and play the best match they can given who they’re playing,” she said. “The strategy might change whenever we go from one point to the next one.”
The schedule at state for Ships players is as follows.
Thursday morning at 10:30 Jordin Popp vs. Eliza Martin of Monona Grove, the team of Taylor Peterson and Zylia Kleinfeldt meets the Notre Dame duo of Sullivan and Lin at 2:00 in the afternoon, and Olivia Minikel awaits the winner of Ashwaubenon’s Jordan Domnick and Lilly Wittwer from Wausau West in a match scheduled to begin at 3:30 Thursday afternoon.
