HC Girls’ Tennis Feels Up for Challenge of New Season

HC Girls’ Tennis Feels Up for Challenge of New Season –

(8-5-26) – Harlan Community Girls’ Tennis returns to the court and is ready to compete while looking to improve upon last season’s 4-7 record.

“That's going to be a challenge for us to replace throughout this season,” said Cyclone Asst. Coach Michael Rueschenberg. “I know there's girls that are going to be ready to step up into those roles, but it just takes experience to also succeed at the varsity level. So we'll have some girls that have played tennis before, but have been JV players for us in the past and they'll be stepping up into more of a varsity role this year, which will be challenging.”

It will be a new look from last year’s senior-laden squad with Chloe Swensen looking to lead the way with two match wins from a season ago. Rueschenberg likes the consistency and tennis IQ Swensen shows on the court.

“I think she's just shown consistent improvement throughout all four years of her high school career, just slowly gotten better and improved in different areas. And I think now she's kind of just a well-rounded tennis player.”

Two players who are expected to move up in the Cyclones rotation are Allison Retzlaff and Mariajose Guerrero Luna. Retzlaff had two match wins in the 6th position while Luna had 3 in the 6th position and 1 in the 5th. Rueschenberg says where lineup in the rotation will be determined on how they handle the challenge of tough matchups and adjust to those higher rotation positions.

“They're going to be playing some competition that's a little bit better, that can hit the ball a little bit harder, that can place their shots a little bit better,” said Rueschenberg. “There's just less room for error, but I think they both worked at it throughout the summer and they've practiced and I think they're ready for the challenge.”

Harlan Community girls’ tennis will get their 2026 season underway against Denison-Schleswig on Friday.

View past scores by visiting the Iowa High School Athletic Association's website, Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union website,
or Iowa Quik Stats