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Talwanda's boys tennis team put its best seven players on the court for their season-opening match this season and lost 4-1.

Those top seven players were not all together again until a non-league competition April 23 with Mason, when they won 4-1.

The Braves opened the season with three losses, all by 4-1 scores, and then went on an eight-game win streak through that 4-1 win last Wednesday against the Mason "B" team for an 8-3 overall record.

The team enters the Fort Ancient Valley Conference Scarlet Division tournament on Tuesday,

May 6, undefeated 3-0 in division play. Coach Pete Thomas is confident the team will do well Tuesday, based on what they team has done so far.

Part of that is overcoming injuries and schedule conflicts as well as beating the three Scarlet Division foes – Edgewood, Ross and Northwest – all by 5-0 scores.

The doubles teams have been hard hit by the injuries and schedule conflicts this year and the regular pairings have gotten few chances to play together.

"They came through, though with all different partners," Thomas said. "They did miss a beat. They were a little less strong than they would have been, but they still won."

The first doubles team of Charley Butt and Chris Jackson both missed time this spring due to injuries while Butt missed some games with a music competition and Jackson for select soccer games.

Dmitry Brezhev, who is paired with Kyle Haskins at second doubles, has missed games due to scheduling of a 400-level math class at Miami University.

Those breaks gave junior varsity players a chance to earn varsity time and three of them — Steven Kiss, Drew Campbell and Alex Ketron — played enough to earn varsity letters this spring, with at least three varsity appearances.

"They all contributed," Thomas said. "We have quality players on jayvee. Other years, they would have been playing varsity."

That also gave them a chance to prepare for the future when they can step up to varsity play on a regular basis.

The team, as a whole, overcame the missed time and personnel changes with little problem, the coach said. Team chemistry, especially with the doubles players, was not a problem with those changes and the team heads into FAVC and sectional play with a head of steam and confidence.

The team is led by sophomore Matt Sherba, a district qualifier from last year and 10-1 with a win against Mason last week.

At second singles is Ben Schwarz and at third singles is Pat Gray.

Thomas said they have taken on strong competition this season in an effort to get better for next Tuesday's FAVC Scarlet Division championship tournament and sectional tournament May 13.

"We just want to get better and you do not get better if you do not play the top teams," Thomas said. "We went out to get the toughest teams (on the schedule) we could find. We took on all comers."

Of course, that works both ways, he said. Sherba is one of the top players in the area and hopes to get seeded in this year's sectional tournament after qualifying for the district tournament last year.

"(Other schools) want Sherba on their schedule," the coach said.

Contact this reporter at (513) 523-4139 or bratterman@coxohio.com.

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