Photo by Traci Bishop
The Lady Dinos will feature a mix of upperclassman and underclassman on the courts this season. After a busy summer of camps and open courts, Carbon is ready to hit the ground running.
The 2023 team will feature a slew of seniors returning for another season, including Ella Anderson (first singles), Audrey Hatch (second singles), Belle Pugliese (third singles), Lyndie Richardson, Allena Ison (first doubles) and Veronica Cartwright (second doubles). Other returners include Emmalee Miller (second doubles), Kiley Sasser (third doubles), Gianna Valdez, Emily Dufour, Ava Wood and Taylor Jennings.
The returners will lend a host of experience to the newcomers, which includes a mix of freshmen and sophomores. Ember Dalton will be playing third doubles and is joined by fellow freshmen Emme Stockdale, Leah Sweeney, Ireland Keil, Cecily Riley, Amelia Leech and Lisa Chen. Sophomore Mandy Riggs, Jocelyn Dimick, Abby Tharp and Sofiya Christensen will round out the team.
The Lady Dinos are under the direction of head coach Pete Riggs, who has decades of tennis experience under his belt. He has coached the boys’ team for 17 years and took the helm of the girls’ team seven years ago. He dedicates his time to developing young players, even during the off season, knowing that the team will face tough competition this year.
“In our region, the biggest challenges will be Juab, Richfield and North Sanpete, in that order,” Coach Riggs said.
Despite the solid teams the Dinos will face this year, they expect to be in the mix to win region for the third straight season. Another goal the Dinos have set is to take the whole team to play at the state tournament in early October.