James Wood teammates Burner, Kimble to play college tennis

WINCHESTER — James Wood teammates and doubles partners Morgan Burner and Lily Kimble will be playing college tennis.

Burner, the Colonels’ No. 2 singles player, is headed to Division II Shepherd University, while Kimble, the No. 1 player, will play at Division III Shenandoah University. Burner signed a letter-of-intent Tuesday in a ceremony at the high school while Kimble signed last week.

Burner, who rebounded from a shoulder injury last season, said she was already heading to Shepherd when she was asked there to contact first-year coach Matt Rosner, who played two years at James Madison University and on the ATP Tour.

“I had never thought about playing tennis in college until I went to an accepted students day,” Burner said. “When I talked to the athletic director just to see if they had intramural tennis or anything — not too much commitment — they convinced me to reach out to Coach Rosner and talk to him about being on the team.”

Rosner currently has six players on his roster with four of them being seniors. The Rams were 3-11 this past season.

“He’s looking on building up the team with some strong players that are just interested in the game of tennis,” Burner said.

Burner, who is 9-6 in singles this season (with one match at No. 1), says Shepherd had already provided what she desired academically.

“I knew I wanted a smaller school to go to versus a big university,” Burner said. “They have a very good nursing program and that’s the field I’m going into. It was just a perfect fit for me.”

Kimble is looking to help the Hornets, who were 4-11 overall and 2-10 in the ODAC this past season.

Kimble is 8-6 at No. 1 singles for the Colonels. She and Burner have excelled at doubles with an 11-4 mark together.