BY OLIVER MAUK

“I really liked Mrs. Merten,” states senior Claire Foran.

“She made me love tennis,” senior Jane Spooner says.

Lane Merten is replacing last year’s boys varsity tennis coach Brett France. And both Foran and Spooner think this is a good choice: both played tennis in junior high where Merten was the coach for seven years from 2001 to 2007 for both the boys and girls teams.

“I liked her because it was the first time I had ever picked up a racquet and she was totally cool about it,” added Spooner. “It was about having fun, which helped each girl’s love for tennis.”

“She helped us improve on our basic tennis skills, which made us better,” stated Foran.

Merten has a lot of tennis background prior to coaching at Mariemont.

“I played doubles in college for Miami University in Oxford,” says Merten. She also played twenty-four years of team tennis for four different clubs. Her most recent tennis work has been as the assistant manager for Hyde Park Tennis Club for the past two summers.

She is happy to be coaching varsity tennis for the first time in her career.

“I am excited to work with this really nice group of boys,” she stated. “I love working with kids and teaching people tennis.”

“I think she will be a really good coach for the boys,” concludes Spooner. “I am excited to see how they do.”