With their Sept. 2, 5-4 win over Heritage, the tennis team started a new era.

This era involves winning several of the nine matches against some of the top talent in the Cap-8, even if the end result isn’t a total Cougar victory.

And this era involves an influx of young players such as sophomore Bree McClung.

McClung has three wins, combined singles and doubles matches, this season.

“I am very focused and consistent. I will never quit on a match, I work extremely hard, and I put in a lot of time and energy,” McClung said.

The captain of the tennis team, senior Leslie Blalock, expressed her excitement about the start of this season.

“We have done so great. I am so proud of everybody.  We had some of the girls from last year who played all through their offseason and came back ten times better,” Blalock said.

Blalock was been sidelined with an injury tracing back to the spring soccer season. She returned Sept. 16 to partner with junior Kyrsten Le to take the #1 seed doubles match from Millbrook.

Other winners of early season matches include senior Kinsey Ness, junior Nicole Trojanowski, and Le. Freshman Rachel Davis, sophomore Trinity Burks and freshman Erin Spreen have three wins under their belts.

The tennis team has their goals in sight this year, according to Burks.

Having beat Heritage once already, Burks hopes to “definitely beat Heritage twice” and “win as many games as possible.”

Spreen began the season participating in both tennis and cross country before choosing to focus full time on cross country.

According to Spreen, the matches against Millbrook and Wakefield have helped prepare the team for their other opponents.

Spreen said, “They’ve made me realize that whenever they hit a shot, they hit it with a lot of intelligence. They actually think about where they place the ball.”

Le had to shoulder the responsibility of the #1 seed during Blalock’s absence.

In her Sept. 15 match against Broughton Le took her opponent into a tie break.

Le reflected on the high level of competition in the Cap-8.

Le said the Cap-8 was “extremely tough.”

“We play against players that are ranked in the top 20 in the state and have been training with elite clubs since they could walk.”