Lopresti finds success where she least expected

Clay-Chalkville High School may not be the first school that comes to mind when thinking of the top tennis teams around.

That is understandable, as the team’s “home court” is at Jefferson State Community College, a 20-minute drive from the school.

While the court situation presents its challenges, the Cougars still field a girls tennis team every year.

“It really doesn’t bother me that we don’t have all that,” said Laura Lopresti, the leading force for the Clay-Chalkville squad.

If anything, not having their own facilities brings the girls closer and instills them with a sense of pride.

“If we win, we started from nothing and became something. Even though tennis isn’t big here [at Clay], that’s even more reason to like it because I feel like we can build something together,” Lopresti said.

The lack of a home-court advantage brings the challenge of sustaining success as a program. Some years the talent pool is there, but in others coach Pam Kohlenberg has to recruit enough players to round out the roster.

“I’m excited that the people let us play there, but that’s good and bad,” she said, now in her 16th year coaching at Clay-Chalkville. “We have a place to play, but it’s not close by. You have to have the commitment and you have to put in the time and put in the distance of going.”

Lopresti, a junior, has held the top ranking on Clay-Chalkville’s team since her freshman season. In team tennis, that is not an arbitrary title. It is earned.

Players improve their ranking within a team by challenging the player ranked directly above them. If they win, they move up and take that spot. As a freshman, Lopresti started at the bottom, and challenged each player ahead of her. Needless to say, she beat everyone, and has held the top spot since.

“Laura has been playing for many years. She’s a strong player with good technique. She plays outside of the team so she is always out there working, working, working,” Kohlenberg said.

School tennis competitions function in mini-tournaments. Teams designate players a number based on their ranking within their team, and each school’s top-rated players compete against each other, all the second-rated players compete against each other, and so on through the typical five or six singles tournaments.

Lopresti competed against all the other “number ones” at the Jefferson County Tournament last season, and finished second. Her goal each year is simple.

“To do one step better than I did last year. I got second in the county for all the ‘number ones.’ So this year, I’ll strive to get first place,” she said.

In her sixth year of organized tennis, Lopresti also plays with Top Notch Tennis out of Trussville, a club league that supplements her work with the school team. The additional repetitions of competition and the ability to hone strategies outside of school practice allow her to focus on other details once the school season comes around.

“Once you get to high school tennis, you already need to know how to play and to compete for your school,” she said.

Tennis was not her first love, however. Lopresti grew up playing other sports, including basketball and soccer. She played basketball through middle school, took a year off, and last played in 10th grade. In middle school, she was the sidekick in the backcourt to Raven Omar, now the point guard and leader of the varsity basketball team at Clay-Chalkville.

“Laura was great on the basketball court when we played together,” Omar said. “She was very aggressive on defense and was always ready to get a steal.”

She began playing tennis in middle school only because her English teacher, who doubled as the tennis coach, asked her to. She said, “Why not?”

“I never dreamed I would play tennis,” Lopresti said.

Tennis has evolved from the sport in the background to the only sport for Lopresti. She no longer has to rush to prepare for tennis season, which begins while basketball season is still ongoing.

“It allows me to focus on one sport than having to jump right out of basketball and go to tennis. I can just play tennis yearlong,” she said.

Amber Jones and Sarah-Ashley Giambrone are two girls who will battle for the second and third seeds for the Cougars this season. Both were talented enough to play at the varsity level even as eighth-graders.

“Amber plays on an extra team, so she gets a lot of time in,” Kohlenberg said.

Lexie Payne is a year-round athlete, playing volleyball and running track along with tennis. Kohlenberg lauds her fitness level, which allows her to be successful on the court. Sophomore Britney Ryals is in her second year on the team.

“It’s a good group to work with,” Kohlenberg said. “All of them are good athletes.”

Kohlenberg was “stinkin’ happy” of her team’s second place finish in the county tournament and third place result in the section tournament last season, and hopes the Cougars can duplicate that success again this season in Class 6A, Section 5, county tournament.