MOUNT VERNON — Jeff Jarosz stood along the steel fence, watching the Mount Vernon Yellow Jackets tennis team play on Wednesday.
The opponent, Olentangy Orange, is one of the top teams in the Ohio Capital Conference. It showed.
The Pioneers shut down the Jackets, sweeping them in every set of the five-match series.
“It’s tough to gage where you are when you play a team like Olentangy Orange,” Jarosz said. “They’re a great team.”
Like it or not, this is a rebuilding year for Jarosz and his team. Their four best players — John Fleming, Alex Shillito, Max Whitney and Avery Baldwin — are gone, either by graduation or transfer.
So it’s up to a lot of youngsters to step up. The team’s first singles player, Will Teater, was a doubles player last year.
“That’s a big step up in competition for him,” Jarosz said. “He didn’t play until three years ago. He hits the ball really well. He plays through the summer, so he has a lot of practice. He hits beautiful topspin shots, which we try to teach to all the other kids.”
