Net result of court scheduling pulls coaches in two directions

Nick Christensen

Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2004 | 10:26 a.m.

1. Bonanza

2. Coronado

3. Moapa Valley

4. Basic

5. The Meadows

1. Brian Miller, Coronado

2. Rishi Daulat, Bonanza

3. Emmanuel Huag, Palo Verde

4. Kyle Bondurant, Basic

5. Hayden Bryant, Moapa Valley

1. Coronado

2. Green Valley

3. Las Vegas

4. Bishop Gorman

5. Palo Verde

1. Alicia Cook, Bonanza

2. Dominique Aubry, Coronado

3. Christina Delaberta, Green Valley

4. Briana Moyle, Palo Verde

5. Snezania Nikic, Cheyenne

Three times a week, a school bus leaves Moapa Valley High School in Overton, loaded with high school tennis players headed toward a match in Las Vegas. At about the Valley of Fire exit on I-15, that bus passes another bus headed up to Moapa Valley with another tennis team going to a road match.

"We're probably on the bus between an hour and 15 minutes, an hour and a half," said Pirates boys' tennis coach Travis Griffiths of his team's road trips to Las Vegas.

Moapa is an extreme example, but it illustrates the state of high school tennis well. The boys' and girls' teams play separate matches against the same school -- the boys playing at one location and the girls at the other campus. With eight courts at every high school, it was always thought that that was the most practical way of handling tennis.

Then Bonanza's court went sour.

Kathleen Pederson, the head coach of the defending boys' state champions and perennial tennis powerhouse Bengals, said that the condition of the cracked court was so bad that her teams decided to play all their matches combined on the road. The Clark County School District decided to use that as a test program, which would save time and money for all 30 4A South teams (Moapa, along with The Meadows and Boulder City also compete in 4A in tennis.)

"It has scheduling advantages. It's certainly an advantage to us cost-wise. We can transport both teams on one bus," CCSD athletics director Bill Garis said.

Pedersen said that so far, she's pleased with the results.

"We've already done four matches like it, and it worked out just fine," she said. "The kids are good about it. There's camaraderie with the boys and girls. It works out super, and it builds up both levels."

But several coaches haven't been as enthusiastic about trying to manage two teams on eight courts, many of which have no lights for long matches that start at 3 p.m.

"It's a nightmare," Durango girls' coach Pat Davis said. "We ended up out there until 6:30. It's very hard on the kids. Some kids weren't getting any rest between sets. You only have eight courts to try and rotate. It wasn't fair at all. I hope we don't have more teams like this."

Zach Brandt, Palo Verde's girls' coach who oversees the boys' program as well, agreed that the setup wasn't ideal.

"There's too many kids and only two coaches, and too much stuff we're out to be liable for," Brandt said. "If all the kids bring back tennis equipment, we have to find a place to put it. At a match like Bonanza and Palo Verde, there's lots of people watching. There are other sports there going on by our courts -- football practice, cross country, soccer."

Brandt said that one way the school district could save money would be to split up the girls' and boys' tennis seasons, instead of trying to lump the teams together.

"Even if you have one coach, there's too many kids," he said. "Tennis isn't like basketball where you have kids on the bench and it's orderly. When you have eight courts going, you have to search for players and tell them the time they go out."

Garis said that the district is watching to see if schools can handle essentially four teams on eight courts, especially with a slate of new high schools on the horizon for construction.

"Eight should be enough," he said. "That's the purpose of the pilot, to see if eight is enough. It looks like it may be."

Meanwhile, Griffiths' Moapa team keeps busing back and forth, and despite having only six courts at his rural school, he's optimistic that the combined teams might work.

"I think our kids would enjoy it if they could go together," he said. "I think a lot of kids come out and say how do we travel with the girls. I think the boys and the girls would like that."