Shelton High tennis duo preps for final state run

‘We’re definitely going out there to have some fun’

Matt Baide, For the Journal | May 23, 20240

Jayden Lovingfoss and Wyatt Wagner were paired up to play as a doubles team in ninth grade, and now they are getting ready to play in their final tennis tournament of their Shelton Highclimber careers.

The duo will compete at the 2A boys state tennis tournament Friday and Saturday at the Nordstrom Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle.

Both players are feeling good, but they have had a lot of time off since they last played tennis together. The duo finished 14-0 during the regular season as Evergreen Conference champions in the fall and finished second at the district tournament in October.

Jayden competed in swimming in the winter, earning a couple of medals at state and Wyatt just wrapped up playing baseball.

“We just started playing together again,” Jayden told the Journal on May 14. “Just trying to get some practice times in and get ready but I’m feeling pretty good about it.”

While it is weird that they had all this time off before competing in the state tournament, Wyatt said it wouldn’t be possible otherwise.

“Most of the time, tennis is a spring sport so I’d be playing baseball and wouldn’t even get to play so it’s good that it is in the fall,” Wyatt said.

Jayden and Wyatt said they both improved a lot since last year. The duo competed in the 2023 state tennis tournament and lost their first match but bounced back with a win in the second match to make it to the second day. The duo lost their next match to finish one match short of earning a trophy.

“You just have to be ready for varying levels of competition,” Wyatt said. “Some teams are maybe a one-seed coming in because they won their district tournament and they’re really good, but another team might be an alternate who got called in two weeks ago to go play. You just have to be ready for whatever comes.”

“There’s a lot of different levels of play but I’m glad we made it last year because we’ve had some experience in this tournament,” Jayden said. “We’re going into this one with some more confidence because we’ve been there before.”

Jayden said the strength of his game is at the net, while Wyatt said his strength is serving.

Once the bracket is released, Jayden and Wyatt will be doing as much research as they can on their opening opponent and who they might play in future matches.

Jayden and Wyatt say they’re sad knowing it is their final tournament together as Highclimbers, but both said this is not the end of their time as a tennis team.

“Yeah, it’s kind of sad to think about but we’re both doing other sports and we’re excited to go to college and get it going,” Wyatt said. “There’s nothing holding us back from playing together more in the future if we want to so it’s not too bad.”

“It is disappointing that we don’t have another season that we get to play together like this, but we can definitely play doubles together through USTA (United States Tennis Association) in the future,” Jayden said. “That’s one of the ways we’ve been preparing for state is because we’re both 18 this year, we joined a USTA tennis team so we’ve been playing matches against other USTA teams to get ready for state so we can definitely do that in the future to be able to keep playing together.”

Wyatt will be attending the Master’s University in Santa Clara, California, playing baseball and majoring in biblical studies. Jayden is going to George Fox University in Newburg, Oregon, just 40 minutes southwest of Portland, and majoring in kinesiology.

The college swim season is in the winter and tennis is in the fall, so Jayden said he has a chance to walk on to the tennis team and continue his tennis career.

Jayden’s mom and Wyatt’s aunt, Rachel Lovingfoss, is in her first year as the boys tennis coach.

“I’m really excited for them,” Rachel said. “They just work really hard. They both have really great work ethics, but I think more than that, they really figured out how to play and have fun this year. They came into this season feeling a little bit of pressure to defend what they did their junior year and I think after maybe the second match or so, we just had a conversation about it’s not going to be enjoyable or fun if you can’t find joy in it. They really flipped a switch and figured out how to continue to play at a higher level but still enjoy being out on the court with each other and it just took all the pressure off them as far as trying to repeat what they did the year before. They just got to a place where it was more important to them to enjoy this last season together more so than the result. It all worked out.”

Jayden said even though this is her first year as the official coach, Rachel has been pretty involved in his tennis and sports life from the beginning.

“It wasn’t a huge change or anything, it’s just that John Perry wasn’t my coach anymore, my mom was. That was the only difference,” Jayden said.

Rachel and Wyatt’s mom played tennis doubles together when they were in high school.

“They actually played for John Perry also when they were coming through high school, so it was kind of a just an interesting thing to be able to do,” Wyatt said.

Rachel said it is a full circle moment to watch Jayden and Wyatt play just like her and Wyatt’s mom and be successful, although they did not make it to state during their high school careers. She said she loved being around Jayden and Wyatt in the fall and spend time with them out on the tennis courts.

“The goal is to place to try and get into one of the final matches to place in the top eight,” Rachel said. “Walking away with a medal is very satisfying and I think both of them feel that way, but I also think they both have realistic expectations. They are going to be playing teams that are just coming off their tennis season so these teams, a lot of them have been playing for the last two months. They’re more match ready than Jayden and Wyatt are. I’m just excited for them to go out there and have fun. It’s going to be their last time playing for the foreseeable future. I think they have a good chance to do well, but more importantly, I want them to enjoy the experience and if they can walk away with a medal, that would be awesome.”

Wyatt and Jayden are looking forward to playing in USTA doubles tournaments together in the future, but for right now, the goal is to earn a trophy at state.

“We’re definitely going out there to have some fun,” Jayden said. “It’s our last high school tournament together so we want to end on a good note. But definitely I’d love to take top eight so that we’ll place. I got two state medals from swimming this year and I was like, ‘Wyatt, you and me got to go get another one so we’re going to try to take top eight and place, that’s what I’d like to do.”

“I’m not really sure what to expect but I just want to go out there and compete and give God as much glory as I possibly can,” Wyatt said.