Tennis season preview: Palo Verde looks to repeat with new coach

He wasn’t sure he’d be chosen since he wasn’t a teacher. Turns out, that didn’t matter to the Panthers.

Hammond will make his return this high school tennis season, which gets underway Thursday with several games. Palo Verde has been the team to beat in Class 5A the last few years and that’s expected to be the case again under its new coach.

The Panthers boys and girls teams are the defending state champions. The Palo Verde girls have won four straight titles, while the boys have won two in a row.

There’s no reason to think Hammond won’t keep the program on the right track. He won 10 state titles with the Bishop Gorman girls team and won another two with the boys. He also is the director of the Summerlin Tennis Club, which means he’s familiar with some of his new players.

“I love the high school competition and all events that go on around town,” Hammond said. “Over the past 25 years at the clubs I’ve taught at, I’ve seen the Palo Verde kids. … This will be fun.”

Palo Verde needs to replace much of its top talent from last season.

The Panthers do return All-Southern Nevada first-team selections Remi Rice and Ruth Robison on the girls side. Rice won the third-place match in the 5A singles individual state tournament. Robison won the doubles individual state title with partner Venus Tang, who has since graduated.

On the boys side, Palo Verde returns Balin Gupta, who finished second in the doubles individual state tournament with partner Rohan Gupta, who has since graduated.

“It’s been a great turnout and they’re ready to go,” Hammond said. “We have a few more days of tryouts, so we’ll see who might show up. We’ll fill up our team and get to work, practice and get ready for the season. That’s the best thing, there’s a lot of kids that come out to Palo and we’re very fortunate.”

Bishop Gorman and Faith Lutheran are also expected to contend on both the boys and girls sides in 5A.

In 4A, The Meadows boys and girls came up short against Northern schools for the state title. With 5A being Southern-only, the top Northern Nevada schools compete in 4A. Reno High claimed the girls title and Galena won the boys title on a tiebreaker.

Boulder City won the 3A girls team title last season and was runner-up to South Tahoe for the boys title.

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.