2024 Spring High School Sports Preview: Shadle Park junior Danielle Cozzetto looks to take next step

In her first two seasons, junior Danielle “Dannie” Cozzetto held down the No. 1 singles position at Shadle Park while earning Greater Spokane League 2A first-team selections.

Upon reflecting on the upcoming season, Cozzetto left no doubt that she does not think about getting selected to the all-league first team for the third consecutive season.

“No,” she said. “My personal goal is to make it to state.”

Cozzetto ended last season with a strong 8-2 record, but an untimely ankle injury during a district semifinal match left her placing third and just short of a state berth for the second straight year.

Many days and practices have passed since then for Cozzetto, who said she aims to use the motivation from that disappointing district semifinal loss against Pullman last May.

She’s been practicing hard inside and out of school settings to accomplish her goal of qualifying for the State 2A singles championships.

The road again seems to go through Pullman.

“I need to try to beat (Pullman junior) Rhoda Wang,” Cozzetto said. “She’s won state two years in a row, and I think that this year, I could beat her.”

As Pullman’s No. 1 singles, Wang handed Cozzetto both of her only regular-season losses last season.

Cozzetto is seeking to become the first girls tennis player at Shadle Park to play for a state championship since the school joined the 2A classification in 2020.

Audra Spargo competed in the State 3A singles championships in 2016. Jillian Groves and Makenna Grier competed in the State 3A doubles championships in 2018.

While chasing a state title is very important to Cozzetto, her end goal is to play tennis in college. She credits her teammates for helping her in the journey.

“Support is a big thing for our team,” Cozzetto said. “Tennis isn’t much of a team sport, but you can still make it a team sport. We do a great job of supporting each other.”

Turning out for the team

Typically, the newcomers on a high school sports team are underclassmen. For Shadle Park’s girls tennis team this season, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Seven of the Highlanders’ 10 players are seniors, including three first-timers. Co-coaches and co-algebra teachers at Shadle Park, Kerista Knutsen and Annsley Skipper, are guiding the team.

What they lack in tennis experience, Knutsen and Skipper are making up for in enthusiasm.

“I’ve just really enjoyed it,” said Knutsen, who was an assistant volleyball coach for five years at Shadle. “I’ve enjoyed the (volleyball) coaching staff, the faculty. So, when there was a last-minute tennis opening, and they needed somebody to do the job, we just kind of filled in.”

Caitin Blankenagel, one of the three senior newcomers, joined the team to add to her impressive list of extracurricular high school achievements.

Throughout her time at Shadle Park, Blankenagel has been a part of the volleyball and cheer teams and was a DECA and orchestra member.

“I do a lot of other activities during the school year, but there’s nothing going on during the spring for me,” she said. “So I wanted something fun that I could do with my friends just to get more involved and to have something to do at the end of the year.”

Joining Blankenagel as novices on the tennis team are Hailey Schaber and Amelie Reynolds. They join returning seniors Claire Darlin, Kendal Depner, Kennedy Rosemier and Mercedes Howard.

“I just really want to have fun playing. I enjoy playing the sport, even though it’s my first year. It’s been super fun so far,” Blankenagel said.