By Travis Barton | [email protected]

Ron Ence knows how fragile this tennis season can be. 

As the head coach of both the boys and girls tennis teams at Riverton High School, Ence saw the boys season this past spring get canceled several weeks into the season and hopes the same won’t happen to the girls this fall. 

“No question the boys were extremely disappointed that their season got cut short,” Ence told the Riverton Journal. “So we are constantly encouraging the girls to give their very best effort in each practice and match because the state health officials could shut us down at any time.” 

Ence said the team has followed the health guidelines given. “It’s fairly easy to 'social distance' during a tennis match, and the girls wear masks and sanitize hands after playing,” he said. 

As of Sept. 20, so far so good for the girls this season. 

The 17 girls on the Silverwolves team have played almost a full season as state comes up at the beginning of October. Ence has seen improvement this year, with three weeks to go in the season, the girls were third in Region 3, compared to last year when the girls finished fifth. 

“Many girls worked hard in the off season with friends, family and private coaches,” Ence said.

“We wanted to move up in the team standings...so there is some evidence of their hard work paying off.”

Ence highlighted his lone senior, Jaylee Margetts, as an ideal representative of the program. 

“(She) is our best player,” he said. “She has been a model of improvement and consistency in each year of the last four years.” 

The 6A state tournament takes place at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City on October 8 and 10. The Silverwolves only sent a second doubles team to the state tournament in 2019 who won their first round match, while 2017 and 2018 saw the team finish in the top five at state respectively.