Page 6 Edina Falls Sports Preview • Thursday, September 3, 2026 current. mnsun. com
Tennis program with many courts, many titles
JOHN SHERMAN john. sherman @ apgecm. com
There is no sport in Edina that has produced more state championships than girls tennis.
Tennis was first offered at Edina in the mid-1970s and it didn’ t take long for the Hornets to begin winning state titles with Edina-East captains Anne Lemieux and Maura Bjerken setting the pace. More success came Edina’ s way with Sisters Inc., led by Jennie and Jackie Moe and Sue and Cathy Birkeland.
Coaches Ted Greer and Chuck Anderson won a long string of state titles and were followed onto the courts by the ultimate winner, Steve Paulsen, who had a streak of championships that may never be broken.
When Paulsen announced his retirement, following his last state title season in October of 2019, he recommended one of his former players, Jaime Gaard Chapman, as his successor.
Now the tradition is in her hands, and winning Lake championships has become the norm.
As the Hornets move forward into the 2026 campaign, coach Gaard Chapman has continued the traditions of the Paulsen era and added a few new dynamics and coined a new code for the program, EGT, as in Edina Girls Tennis.
Graduation losses took the Hornets’ top two players from last season – Raya Hou and Lauryn
Schenck. They accomplished all of the goals in high school tennis, except for one. They could not find a way to unseat Rochester Mayo as the state team champion.
That goal is still out there for this year, although the Hornets go into 2026 with a younger team than they had the last two years.
Leading the Hornets is one of the state’ s best players, sophomore captain Bella Loucks.
She is everything that coach Gaard Chapman looks for with her court sense, mental toughness, polished skills and will to win.
“ I am super excited for the new season,” Loucks said at the end of a recent practice.“ I love all of my teammates. We are going to be pretty young this year, but I can see the potential. State was very exciting last year. Even though we didn’ t win, we did our best.”
This year’ s captains along with Loucks are experienced doubles players Maddie Norman and Cici Bourne.
“ With the middle school players, we have a variety of talented players,” Norman said.
“ We have a good attitude and amazing coaches,” Bourne said.
As a high school player, coach Gaard Chapman was a state doubles champion and seldom lost a match.
She was elected to the Edina High Boosters Athletic Hall of Fame shortly after she became eligible.
Hornet assistant coach
Laura Nielsen is another impressive role model the players can look up to and draw knowledge from.
“ During the season the coaches will give us a lot of help with technique on serves and ground stroke rallies,” captain Norman said.
“ When we play against the best teams in the state [ like Rochester Mayo ] we have to have a good mindset,” Loucks said.“ They have to play us, too. All of the big schools are tough. Wayzata is in our section even though they are not located near any of the other schools in our section.”
In the Lake Conference last year, Wayzata and Minnetonka were Edina’ s biggest rivals with Eden Prairie and Maple Grove also assembling competitive squads.
Edina had 105 girls trying out for the tennis teams this year. That is not unusual for a tennis community like Edina. Competition at tryouts was tough, but at the same time very respectful.
The three captains organized off-season competition that took place every Tuesday this summer. The sessions not only helped players work on their skills, they helped build friendships.
“ We had a lot of the returning varsity and JV players come most of the time,” Norman said.
“ It was pretty chill,” Loucks added.“ Girls could come if they wanted to.”
With the new set-up at Edina Community Center, high school tennis
( SUN PHOTO BY JOHN SHERMAN)
Captains of the Edina girls tennis team for the 2026 season are, from left to right: Maddie Norman, Bella Loucks and Cici Bourne.
( SUN PHOTO BY JOHN SHERMAN)
Maddie Norman of the Edina girls tennis team hits a backhand volley during practice at the the Edina Community Center courts.
in the community has 15 courts to work with – eight at the Steve Paulsen Complex adjacent to Creek Valley Elementary and seven behind the community center.
The new courts at ECC are smooth, striped and worthy of varsity matches. Most of the time, the varsity will continue to practice on the west side of town at Creek Valley.
“ Both facilities are perfect for matches,” coach Gaard Chapman said. The 15 courts came in handy in mid-August with so many girls trying out for the team.