Princeton

Coach: Connie Lind

Top returning players: Tessa Carlson, sr.; Anna Ellis, so.; Audrey Thompson, sr.

Key newcomers: Ava Munson, fr.; Uli Schneider, fr.

Worthy of note: Lind will shuffle the deck for her final season as girls tennis coach. The Tigresses will be without two of their three returning starters, seniors Tessa Carlson and Audrey Thompson, who are out with injuries at this time, and will start the season with one senior (a foreign exchange student), five sophomores and two freshmen in the lineup. Sophomore Anna Ellis, who played No. 2 doubles last year, moves up to No. 1 doubles with classmate Karlie Schultz, who played JV singles last year. Lind said Ellis is “a take charge player so that will help Karlie adjust when she needs to.” Freshmen Munson and Schneider will team up at No. 2 doubles and “have worked hard on learning doubles and learning where each other will be on the court.” At No. 3 doubles will be sophomore Alice Scruggs and senior Mie Lose, a foreign exchange student from Denmark. Sophomores Lilly Mabry (No. 1) and Daphnie Grant (No. 2) will handle singles play, making the adjustment from an 8-game pro set to playing two out of three sets at the varsity level. “We are young this year but all these girls love playing tennis. This will help Coach (Jamie) Munson out in the years to come,” Lind said. Jamie Munson, the former Jamie Griggs, was a senior the first year Lind took over as girls tennis coach. ... The JV lineup will consist of Kaylee Tanner and Lydia Hardy at singles and the doubles teams of Sylvie Rutledge and Gracelynn Hansen, Piper Hansen and Isla Bayer and Izabelle Luft and Bella Bauer. Rounding out the JV team are Emma Ames, Millie Arteaga, Eve Boggs, Sayge Compton, Eryn Crowder, Chloe Kull, Maicie Larson, Myla McCoy, Charlie Nelson, Izzy Simmering and Piper Wempe. ... The Tigresses will open the season Tuesday, Aug. 26 at L-P.

St. Bede

Coach: Amethyst Ernat

Top returning players: Emerald De La Torre, sr.; Chipper Rossi, sr.; Lily Soliman, sr.

Top new players: Alicia Barreras, so.; Elsie Soliman, so.; Josie Trujillo, so.

Worth noting: Ernat, a La Salle-Peru graduate and 2019 state qualifier and NewsTribune Girls Tennis Player of the Year, takes over the Bruins after serving as an assistant the past three years under Jill Urban-Bollis. “I fell in love with the game while playing at L-P and IVCC,” Ernat said. “When I got asked to help Jill with St. Bede after my sophomore year at IV, I jumped on the opportunity to help her and teach the girls the sport I love. … I hope to bring my knowledge from the coaches I have been taught by, also from what Jill has taught me the last three years. I have been putting in the extra work the couple weeks before the season to help the girls mature into the tennis players they want to be.” Ernat has three seniors who will lead the way in Rossi, Lily Siliman and De La Torre, who Ernat feels all could compete for a state berth. Trujillo, Barreras and junior Kyra Finley are in the mix to play singles, while a combination of Rossi, De La Torre and the Solimans will make up the top two doubles teams. “My goals for this year are for my girls to win more matches than they lose and also for every girl to get better every match they play,” Ernat said. ... St. Bede opened the season with a 3-2 victory over Bishop McNamara at Washington Park.