The girls’ tennis team experienced a tough start this season, beginning with four losses in their first five matches.

Even after this start, coach Brian Lesh still sees the positive. 

“Versus Clayton, they played out of their minds. They played a great match against Clayton,” Lesh said. The Cougars won the match 6 to 3. 

The No. 1 and No. 2 singles, senior Julia Foley and junior Emily Dickerson, were defeated by their Clayton counterparts, but the No. 3 through No. 6 Cougar singles came away with victories. 

The beginning of this season was definitely one of the harder parts of the schedule. 

“We have a fairly difficult non conference schedule. Sanderson has been known to be one of the top schools,” Lesh said. The team lost to the Spartans 6 to 3 Aug. 23 and faced them again, taking a 7 to 2 loss. 

No. 5 singles junior Anna Beth Kuga accounted for the highest ranked player to notch the win in the first meeting, while No. 1 singles senior Julia Foley and No. 4 singles junior Hailey Pham contributed the two Cougar wins in the last meeting with the Spartans. 

Although Lesh sees improvement this season, he still has goals for the future of the team. 

“We hang tough with schools like Holly Springs, but I would like to in the future be more competitive with a Leesville and an Enloe,” Lesh said. 

Lesh has seen the impact of his coaching on his players come to fruition this past season. 

“I saw them applying stuff that we have been working on for three years and finally is sinking in with some of my juniors and seniors,” Lesh said. “To see them improving that much in that one match is pretty good.”