By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – In the two decades since she graced the courts at Bedford North Lawrence, Jennifer Edwards never lost her love for the game or her desire to compete. Her time as a Star honed the first part, two older brothers chiseled out the second.
Now her job is simple: transfer both characteristics to her new team.
Edwards, a 2005 BNL graduate, will make her coaching debut with the Stars in 2026. She takes over for Ian Dillman, who stepped aside from his double duty as the coach of both genders to focus on the boys program.
There’s plenty of work to do. BNL went 3-15 last season, but there’s hope for the future with four returning starters and a swarm of nine freshmen (among the 15 athletes who reported for the start of official practice sessions) to build on.
“It’s really been a lot of fun,” Edwards said. “I’ve always been passionate about tennis, I’ve always loved it. I just feel like it was meant to be. I’ve enjoyed getting to know the girls, seeing them get better.
”We’ve started with the fundamentals. We’ve seen so much improvement (since conditioning in January). We’ve been working on footwork and strokes, their feet should be constantly moving. We’re making sure we do things correctly, anything we can do so when they get out there, they’ll know what they’re doing.
“It’s teaching them to be competitive. We’re trying to teach that intensity, that competitive drive, and it’s hard to teach that.”
The Stars will construct the roster around Emma Conover (the lone senior) and returning underclassmen Emma Voris, Claire Edwards (the daughter of the coach) and Jada Key. That means there will be other spots available for the seven-player lineup that comprises the five court matches.
“Having Emma, as a senior, and the others here has been great, to work with the freshmen, to be the leaders,” Edwards said. “We’ll see what happens. We know three spots for sure, so there’s four to figure out. We think we know who they will be, it’s just figuring out where to put them.
“Even if we don’t win every game, to see them improve and work is the biggest thing. I would love to win more matches than we did last year, going .500 would be wonderful. Tennis is 95 percent mental, so if we can get through the mental block when we make mistakes, that will be good.”
BNL will open the regular season on April 2, hosting Brown County.
