Astrid Cardenas and Emma Watts were the Joplin area’s top girls tennis players in 2020.
And now they’re back for more.
In a stellar fall campaign for the Joplin Eagles, Cardenas and Watts captured the No. 1 doubles crown at the Central Ozark Conference tournament, took second place at the Class 3 District 6 tournament and then advanced to the consolation quarterfinals of the state tournament.
“We were very pleased with them and they fell just short of being on the medal stand (at state),” Joplin coach Jeff Williams said. “I know they feel they should have been on the medal stand last year. I know they’d love to do that this year. We’re confident Astrid and Emma are going to be two really solid players for us again this year. And hopefully they can be two of the top players in the state.”
As a doubles team, Cardenas and Watts went 15-7 last season, but they were 14-3 after both players returned to action from injury or illness.
A back injury plagued Cardenas throughout her junior season, while an illness kept Watts out of action temporarily during her sophomore campaign.
Will Cardenas and Watts form a formidable doubles team again this fall?
“They’ve talked about it,” Joplin assistant coach Richard Perry said. “We’ll see. We’ll see how everyone is playing and we’ll put everyone in the best position possible to go the furthest for the team.”
Now a senior, Cardenas represented Joplin at the state tennis tournament for the second straight season in 2020.
Williams noted it may take Cardenas some time to get back into form this fall.
“Astrid is coming off a summer injury that held her back for several weeks, so we’ll see how fast she progresses from that,” Williams said. “We’re hoping she can have a successful senior year.”
Williams and Perry both noted Watts put in a lot of time and effort towards improving her tennis skills over the summer. With that, the JHS coaching staff expects Watts to have a stellar junior season.
“Emma played a lot of tennis and hit the weight room this summer,” Perry said of Watts, who went 7-3 in singles matches last season. “She’s gotten stronger and I think she’s going to roll right into this season.”
Cardenas and Watts aren’t the only Eagles on this year’s roster with prior varsity experience.
Senior Cloey Blank was in last year’s starting lineup and is expected to play a big role this season. Junior Brynn Driver is another player who earned varsity experience last fall. Jensen Vowels earned varsity playing time last year as a sophomore, but she’s currently unable to compete after having knee surgery.
As far as newcomers, sophomore Abry Stayton is a player who has impressed the coaching staff.
“Abry is a very good athlete and we look forward to her doing some good things for us,” Williams said.
Mya Ndedi-Ntepe, also a sophomore, is another player who could contribute at the varsity level.
“She’s been putting in a lot of work,” Perry noted.
The Eagles had 17 athletes in attendance at Monday’s first practice, five more than last year’s opening day.
The team will soon be holding challenge matches which will ultimately decide the varsity lineup.
“We have some newcomers who are in the mix, so we’ll see what happens,” Williams said.
“We have some open spots and those will go to whoever fights the hardest for them,” Perry said.
The Eagles are scheduled to open the season at Thomas Jefferson on Aug. 30. Joplin’s home opener is one night later against Webb City.
Also of note, the coaching staff has added several junior varsity events to this year’s schedule in order to get the younger players more valuable experience.
“Hopefully that will pay off and hopefully the program is on the rise,” Williams said.
