Norwalk retools while contending

NORWALK — Things look a little different. For the past three seasons, there were very few questions on who was playing where for the Norwalk girls tennis team. "This is really the first time we had more pieces to the puzzle than empty spots," said fourth-year head coach Harry Love. Over the past three seasons, the Truckers were a combined 49-10 overall and 31-1 in the SBC Lake, which also included three league championships. Those teams were anchored by multi-year stalwarts such as Megan Miller (89-43), Ana Osborn (78-31), Lauren Brown (86-39), Kenzie Smith (77-26), and Sidney Sage (68-38). But just two players — juniors Lydia Trost and Addy Rospert — returned as regular players from last season's varsity lineup entering 2025. This season, they both moved up to first and second singles, respectively. "This is my first time really having to go through that feeling-out process," Love said. "My first year (in 2022), I had a very good idea of who was going to be where, and we basically kept the whole team going into the following season. "Going into last year we had graduated a few, but we knew exactly what we had lined up," he added. "It was a lot of trial and error, and really, it still is. It will be a season of constant evaluation, mostly on the idea that right now we only have a handful of seniors starting. So it's about evaluating this season and next year as well." But despite five new faces and a challenging non-league schedule, the Truckers have again put themselves in SBC Lake contention. Norwalk (5-3, 4-0) heads to Tiffin Columbian (7-2, 3-0) at 4:15 p.m. Thursday with sole possession of first place in the loss column on the line. Norwalk opened the season with a 5-0 loss to Port Clinton (7-0) on Aug. 8. It then placed third in its host Norwalk Invite on Aug. 9 with a field that included Port Clinton and Division I programs Perrysburg and Toledo Notre Dame. On Aug. 13, the Truckers lost 5-0 vs. Toledo St. Ursula and 3-2 to Sylvania Northview, another pair of Div. I programs. Three days later, the Truckers hosted their annual doubles tournament, which again included Northview, along with Ashland, Amherst, and Findlay. Last weekend, the Truckers then traveled to Port Clinton for another doubles tournament, where teams like Ottawa Hills and Lima Shawnee were in the field. "We started off with a lot of strong teams, including drawing Port Clinton in the OTCA and opening with them right away," Love said. "Obviously they have a really great team this year, and (head coach) Joe (Miller) has a great program over there. "So we started with some adversity, but now we're getting in the swing of some league matches, and I think those, plus three very competitive Invites, really helped us prepare for the league schedule." Sophomore Leksi Jurczek has been playing third singles this year for Norwalk. Juniors Alyssa Gruhlke and Aubrey Kluding have been at first doubles, while senior Chloe Hazelwood, junior Riley Helton, and senior Roxy Brummit have played second doubles. Now, for a fourth straight year, the Truckers and Tornadoes are again the class of the Lake so far. Norwalk's only loss in the league over the past three years came at Tiffin in 2022. "We went into the season kind of expecting them to again be the top competition," Love said of the Tornadoes. "There were a lot of unknowns. We had five seniors, and Tiffin had four. "Pretty much the whole Lake graduated the majority of their lineups from 2024. It was a big unknown going into each match, and so far we've handled them really well." Columbian is led by Leah Weingart at first singles. The Tornadoes swept Clyde and Bellevue and beat Perkins, 4-1. They were leading every set handily against Sandusky in a match that was suspended on Aug. 19. Meanwhile, Norwalk has defeated Bellevue, Sandusky, Clyde, and Perkins by 5-0 scores. Like Thursday, all four matches were on the road. On Tuesday, Love was pleased to see both his doubles teams push through at Perkins. Gruhlke and Kluding won in three sets (6-1, 4-6, 6-1), while Hazelwood and Helton won in two close sets (7-5, 7-5). Trost also won 7-5, 6-0, one day after she claimed a 7-6 (6), 7-5 win at Clyde. "Both our doubles teams Monday and Tuesday faced a lot of adversity, and I think that is really going to help them on Thursday," Love said. "Singles has done well, and Lydia faced a lot of adversity both days as well this week. "Addy and Leksi have been doing really well so far, and our hope is they continue that." As for Thursday, Love knows things will be far from decided in the league race. But Thursday will be another strong test for his team and the hopes of a fourth straight Lake title. The Truckers also still face Div. I Ashland and Perrysburg in non-league matches before hosting the Tornadoes on Sept. 26. "My expectation is Columbian will be ready to play and ready for a battle," he said. "Comparing scores, we've been close at the same spots where they've had positions close, and we've done well where they have done well. "But really, until those players are staring across the net from each other Thursday, we really don't know what the result is going to be," Love added. "My big thing with the girls is trying to prepare them for a different environment or match than they've seen so far."