By Matt Browning

Riggs Kuhn of McPherson as voted the Salina Area Preseason Girls Tennis Player of the Year. Kuehn finished seventh at the 4A Tournament last season after finishing with a record of 29-9.

“Being able to have a state experience my sophomore year was very exciting for me since I was one person away from being able to have a go at regionals my freshman year,” Kuhn said. “Taking seventh as a sophomore is pretty good from what I’m told, but I knew I could have done way better than I did.”

Having a diverse game, no matter the opponent is one of the attributes that separates Kuhn from other tennis players in the state.

“(My strengths are) doing anything it takes to win, whether that be changing my game, switching up ball placement, finding weaknesses, etc,” Kuhn said. “As well as being confident and loud with my calls.”

The Bullpups lost a significant amount of talent off last year’s team that was the 4A champion, but Kuhn is still optimistic that her team can be a contender yet again.

“I expect my team and I to do very well this season,” Kuhn said. “Many people started to worry less about us this year since we dropped five seniors from the top six last year, but we are still a very strong team and still have a high potential to make it to state.”