While the lineup each time out might look different, Marist Catholic girls tennis has still dominated in the 2026 season.
With a roster that includes eight players playing club sports in the spring, Spartans head coach Jeff Priske has had to be creative with the lineup each time out.
Still, the Spartans are 13-2 in duals this season, the only losses coming to 6A local schools in South Eugene and Sheldon.
“The deepest team I have ever had in terms of top to bottom, what 1-12 would look like,” Priske said. “It’s a lot of fun. The practices have high energy and all the girls are keeping up with one another, so it’s pretty cool.”
With three club volleyball players, three club soccer players and two more club basketball players, it’s been a lot of juggling for Priske.
Then you mix in No. 1 singles player Whitney Hedden, a junior, competing in bigger tournaments outside of the state, there truly has been a new look each time out.
However, Hedden is locked in on competing for a state title after falling in the semifinals as a freshman and losing in the title match last year, both losses coming to North Bend’s Raegan Farm who isn’t playing high school tennis this year.
“Whitney is playing really well,” Priske said. “She’s a really good team player. She wants to be at the matches, she wants to support, she’ll stay and watch No. 4 doubles. She’s not just a, ‘I’m No. 1 singles, I win, I go home.’ She stays.”
Hedden will certainly be one of the favorites to take the 4A/3A/2A/1A state individual crown, but she’s just the head of the snake for the Spartans.
Seniors Stella and Phoebie Larson are three-time state qualifiers as doubles partners and they’ve taken third at state the past two years.
Junior Talia Tyner and senior Taylor Murphy have both been to state twice, once with a different partner before the two worked together last season.
Add in a transfer from Churchill in junior Addie Hirons, a state qualifier in 5A doubles last year, and the 4A girls soccer state Player of the Year in Libby McLaughlin, and those claims of being the deepest team in Priske’s tenure are backed up.
“We’re pretty good,” Priske said. “If I can get all 12 on the court on the same day, that’s my challenge."
Specifically with McLaughlin, Priske noted how her grandfather was a tennis teaching professional for 40 years and certainly knows the game as well as she does soccer.
Marist Catholic was able to capture the 4A state title in soccer back in the fall, and McLaughlin hopes to make it another one in the spring with the tennis squad.
Last season, the Spartans came up a point short of St. Mary’s Medford for the 4A/3A/2A/1A state team title.
Those two faced off in a dual recently on May 2 where the Spartans came out with the 7-1 win. Phoebie Larson stepped in at No. 1 singles and took down the Crusaders No. 1 single Carys Chamberland in three sets, 3-6, 7-6, 10-4.
Needless to say, the thought of getting back on top as a team is fresh on the mind for the Spartans.
“Yeah, we’re pretty motivated,” Priske said. “The scoring and some of the performances on the final day of the state tournament (last season) were not what we expected. I do think my players are ready to try and get that back.”
Marist Catholic competes in 4A/3A/2A/1A Special District 2 and the district tournament is set for May 11 at Cascade High School, and the final rounds May 14-15 at Salem Swim and Tennis.
The Spartans hope to clean up there and send a strong contingent to the state tournament, which is set for May 21-23 at Oregon State University.
In Corvallis, the Spartans will be chasing team title No. 6 in program history and their first since 2024.
“We’ve had good results against Catlin (Gabel), we had good results at the OES tournament, we had good results with St. Mary’s head-to-head, good results against Cascade,” Priske said. “I don’t want to get too far ahead myself, but when I have a full lineup, all the girls, we’re a pretty darn good team.”
austinw@osaa.org
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