TOPSHAM

It hasn’t been an ideal preseason for the Mt. Ararat High School boys tennis team.

Rainstorms, pestering winds and untimely snow has forced the team to practice indoors, limiting their workouts.

Mother Nature was more cooperative on Thursday, though, and the Eagles were on the outdoors courts preparing for the approaching season.

Coming off two consecutive Class A state title appearances, coach Don Foley and his group will be short on numbers this season, having just seven players on the team. There are pros and cons to the shortage, but it makes the practices before the season that much more important.

“On one hand, it’s good.” Foley said. “Instead of 12 people. We’ve had that before — people standing in line. There’s no standing here. You play what you get.”

On the other hand, more playing means more chances of injury, which is something the Eagles can ill afford this season.

“It does put some pressure on us,” said junior Nick Mathieu, who will be looking to play in a third straight Maine Principals Association Schoolboys title match this season. “If anyone gets injured, we’re down a match automatically, which is a big deal. It makes us warm up more and stretch because we don’t want an injury.”

For those reasons, Foley is making sure his players are physically ready for the court. After a short warm-up on Thursday, the team went on a quick run and came back for stretching. It’s a simple but strict warm-up regime that Mt. Ararat does before every practice or match.

Now, in the preseason, the Eagles are practicing every day, regardless of the weather. Today, they’ll be back indoors and this weekend, they’ll be right back out on the court, depending on today’s weather, with a focus on physical training. There won’t be any days off until the season starts, which is set for April 25 at home against Cony.

“This is definitely a big part of it,” Foley said of the running and fitness of his players. “I want to be sure that they’re warmed up. You can’t play tennis unless you’re warmed up. It’s been stressed to them again and again to be fit.”

“I’ve just been training a lot on fitness. A lot of running — it’s good to stay fit,” Mathieu said.

As for on the court, Foley isn’t as focused on ground strokes or serving just yet.

“Primarily I’m interested in ‘can they move their feet?’” he said. “This is directly related. We try to get them to move their feet constantly. We try to keep them as active as we possibly can.”

To start the tennis during practice, Mathieu and his teammates began with light hitting from the edge of each service box. They eventually moved back to the baseline before feeding each other volleys and working on serves.

“Currently, I think we’re working on the basics,” No. 2 singles player Peter Mao said. “Just some of everything. Making sure we’re solid for the season. These first few weeks are probably most important leading up because the first couple matches really help to build confidence.”

Expectations

Along with Mathieu and Mao, Joey Reed and Will Goller return from last season for Mt. Ararat. Mathieu and Mao will team up for the No. 1 doubles team, but aside from their singles roles as well, the rest of the lineup is undecided. Foley expects a real competition.

“The third singles is kind of up in the air,” he said. “These guys are all fighting for third singles. And then we’ll try and piece together the doubles. These guys look very competitive — they’re all even. It’s going to be a battle.”

Despite the limited numbers, Foley said his players this year are more skilled than they have been in the past. If they can stay healthy, he likes their chances.

The last two seasons, the Eagles have fell short to Falmouth in the state final match. First, it was a tight 3-2 win in 2014, and then it was a more-than-meets-the-eye, competitive 4-1 match last season. Though, the Yachtsman are not in Mt. Ararat’s sites right now.

“We don’t mention them at all,” Foley said. “Falmouth is Falmouth. That’s another animal. We just try to do well in Eastern A.”

“I think for this season, we’re still aiming to do just as well, but we’re going to take it one match at a time,” Mao said.

When it comes down to results, Mathieu plays a large role in how Mt. Ararat performs.

With two years of state title experience and many other United States Tennis Association tournaments under his belt, the junior is the unquestioned leader of the squad.

“With Nick as a teammate, it’s really good practice — just to have someone so good to hit with,” Mao said. “It helps me to be able to hit with someone who’s better than me.”

Individually, Mathieu has gone from a surprise story his freshman year to all but expecting to be back in the state title match this time around. He understands the ramifications, but primarily because of his USTA experience, he doesn’t feel much pressure. He just wants to get back.

“I’m hoping to make it and win the state title,” Mathieu said. “It was a close match (last year). So, I don’t really have any expectations now. I’d like to win, and I feel like I’m in a position to win.”

Mathieu noted that with so many good teams out there, it’s tough to form expectations for the team so early in the season, especially with new players. But, he thinks if the Eagles go out and play their hardest, they’ll be successful again.

“I think we have to see how the team is doing later on,” Mathieu said. “I have no expectations right now. We never really did the last two years, and the last two years, we’ve made it to the state finals. It turned out well.”

For now, the Eagles are taking one step at a time.

“We always want to do very well. We want to get in the playoffs for sure,” Foley said. “That’s number one. The last two years, we’ve been very, very successful. The kids have stepped up.

I just want more of the same. We’re pretty confident. Nick’s pretty confident in what we can do as a team. He’s looking around saying ‘we might be better than last year.’ We’ll see what happens.”