Non-conference slate is complete, undefeated season intact.
We beat the 5A school 8-0, to maintain the defeated season. 3 of the Big 4 played in that match, since they're not in our league we played our singles lineup straight up which was fun to get to do. I don't think everyone had their best for some reason, travel matches hit the girls harder now than they seemed to pre-pandemic, but they gritted their teeth and we pulled out the dominant W.
We have a quick turnaround today, where we play on the barnyard fairground courts. If you recall they looked like this:
Like last year, we're going there with a short roster because of scheduling conflicts. (Jokingly, I think half the kids make sure they're busy for this match because everyone hates the trek.)
But unlike last year, where we only had 1 of our Top 5 players with us...this year, we're taking our 3/4 best players who are also the 3/4 best players in our conference. Also like last year, we're going to forfeit at least one of the positions. It was too short notice for me to get any of the JV players and our JV roster is basically beginners. Which would match our opponents, but the ones who are decent enough to hang weren't available on short notice.
Short of everyone getting food poisoning on the bus ride, there's no true threat of us losing today. The real question is, can we continue our current little streak of shutting out opponents. In singles, I don't have any real worries we should sweep.
First doubles, same. 2nd doubles will be interesting, it's a duo of my 9th graders who have good chemistry as pals and are solid players together. It'll depend on how experienced their opponents are as to whether it's a long 3-set match or whether they can compose and beat them handily. The conditions will be awkward for them, but at least the "doubles court" is closer to our bench than the singles one.
3rd doubles will be a JV senior that I elevated to varsity because she's been a dedicated practice player, and I'll likely pair her with our manager.
I'm enjoying seeing the team winning so handily and I'd prefer to see us maintain the unbeaten match streak (though technically the forfeits will mean we lose at least 1 match today) versus being concerned we'll lose or something silly.
Adding Match 15
The state assoc. limits tennis teams to 16 matches (or tournaments) during the regular season, we never come close to that normally, we play 12 conference matches and I got us the 2 non-conference games which were nice even if both were solid middle-of-the-pack programs in 6A/5A.
There's a new tennis program in our league this season, that decided to start as JV only this year so their kids could get experience. I wrote their coach and asked if she wanted to give her kids a varsity experience before graduation, especially the seniors and she said yes. So we're going to play them as our 15th match at the end of the season so I can promote a bunch of my JV players including some JV seniors to varsity for the day.
Because I have 4 freshman who play varsity they can lead the singles effort and ensure we don't accidentally lose, because I did say they were gonna play too.