The Trinity Lutheran, Seymour, and Brownstown Central tennis teams will have veterans at the No. 1 singles positions when they open their schedules this week.

Trinity Lutheran will open Monday at Austin, while Seymour will open Tuesday at home to Jeffersonville, and Brownstown hosts Charlestown for a Mid-Southern Conference meet Tuesday.

Trinity Lutheran

Coach Jayme Lowe will have a veteran team as she begins her second year coaching the Cougars. Heading up the team is senior Drew Hubbard, who played No. 1 singles last year.

“She’s our likely No. 1,” Lowe said. “No. 2 and 3 singles are up in the air. We’ve got two or three people battling for those. We’ve got a freshman, Katie Malone, who has taken lessons for many years and has some really good technique so she’s in the running there as well as a couple of seniors who were JV players last year.”

They are Bridget Bingham and Allison Ward.

Lowe said, “Presley Meyer has also had a good start. We have got a lot of range this year, girls who are willing to play both doubles and singles, girls who are really enthusiastic and are out there learning the techniques.”

Veterans Kiley Zabel and Carson Bowling are “looking to be our No. 1 doubles,” Lowe said. “We’ve definitely got some competition at doubles, but we’ll probably start out with Natalee (Martinez) and Emily (Keller) at No. 2 doubles.” Both Martinez and Keller lettered last year.

“We’ve got several others trying out, some different combinations to see what works best,” Lowe said.

“I’m hoping for a good season. We’ve got many girls who have worked hard. Our seniors are really driven. They are being good leaders to the rest of the team to show the dedication. “I think we’re going into the season with a really positive outlook.”

Seymour

Coach Jacob Hunt has four veterans to provide leadership for his team.

They are senior Elise Hartung and juniors Claire Combs, Addison Hunsley and Ava Sunbury.

Hunt said, “One of the issues with spring is, starting out the season you’ve got to figure out what the lineup is, so the first couple weeks we’re not really set, but we really like Combs and Sunbury at singles. Those are the ones we’re sure of. They will be 1-2 or 2-3.”

Hunt said Hartung and Kelsea Hunsley are other leading singles canidates.

“Elise played singles last year, but she really wants to give doubles a shot. Part of high school tennis is we’ve got to give these kids opportunities across the court, playing singles, playing doubles to really find their place,” Hunt said.

“We really like Tori Fee, Addison Hunsley and Emma Woodard at doubles. So really finding where Elise and Kelsea will play is going to be our challenge whether they make a better singles player or doubles.”

Hunt said he likes the depth of this team. “I think we’ve got a lot of girls on the team who kind of mesh into a giant pool of skill at the same level.

“We have a lot of girls who would be really good at varsity, so our goal for this week is to find out who works well in doubles and who kind of has that mental ability to play in singles, and that emotional strength to kind of be combative and to motivate themselves.”

He said the girls made a lot of progress in pre-season practices. “I think we’re really good coming out of the gates. I think we’ve got a lot of good fundamentals going on so one of the things we’ve been focusing on is that second serve.

“They’ve got a pretty strong first serve, but that second serve you’ve got to have it in consistently. If you’re playing varsity you’ve got to put a little a little extra, a little spice on that second serve to be competitive.”

The Owls play Columbus North on Thursday.

Hunt said, “These first few meets are going to be very experimental. ‘We’re very lucky with our senior class being in the program a long time, being very vocal, being very strong, being very good leaders on the team.”

Brownstown Central

Braves coach Erik Stangland said through challenge matches last week, junior Brynn Burton was No. 1 single, senior Jenna Bolte was No. 2, and junior Avery Harrison was No. 3.

He said that could change with more challenge matches set for Monday.

“Burton has been playing really well in practice, but she will be challenged,” Strickland said. “We have some other players who are trying to fight to get into the lineup.”

All three of those girls are returning lettermen, along with Audrey Scarlett, Kaitlyn Williams, Bella Brown, and Glenna Preston.

Williams and Brown played No. 1 doubles, and Scarlett and Preston played No. 2 doubles last spring, but Scarlett and Preston beat Brown and Williams in a recent challenge match.

Kylie Eglen, Maddie Singleton, Gracie Fisher, Maggie Banister, Destanie Collins, and Lilly Wayt earned junior varsity awards last spring and Stangland said those girls will be pushing the returning veterans for playing time.

“We have some younger girls that are fighting to get into the varsity lineup. Our depth is the same as every year. It is always a struggle to find that third point. Over the years we’ve lost a lot of 3-2 matches.”

The Braves were 7-8 overall and 2-6 in the Mid-Southern Conference.

“We don’t have the skill set that some teams have. We have to make up for that with determination and hard work,” Stangland said. “We have some girls that maybe played in middle school or a few years in high school, and we’re playing against some girls that have 10-12 years of experience.”

“The girls just have to grit through it.”