BY ED GOTWALS, THESPORTSPAGE.BLOG

Chambersburg's boys tennis team lost all of its starting lineup to graduation except for two players, and the Trojans had 14 brand-new players come out for the team this spring.

While that sounds like a total rebuild situation, Trojan coach Brad Hill isn't looking at it that way.

"The two players we have back were our No. 1 and 2 players, so it'll be nice to have the top two back," Hill said. "Plus, we'll have a younger team this year, which will be nice because we won't lose a lot."

Chambersburg opens its season Monday by hosting Northern York at 4 p.m. at Norlo Park.

Junior Samuel Vessah will take over No. 1 singles for the Trojans and junior Kadyn Taylor will be at No. 2 singles.

Hill said, "Both of those guys are playing for the third year, and both played at No. 1 and No. 2 last year. They are both in great shape and have the experience. I'm hoping for a good season from them."

The No. 3 player will be freshman Sedrick Vessah.

"I think Sedrick shows a lot of promise," Hill said. "He's spent some time on the courts and he has a real natural form."

The No. 1 doubles team will include junior Hank Stouffer and sophomore Marcus Rahauser. At No. 2 doubles will be junior Scott Pettyjohn and sophomore Paul Hance.

Hill said, "Stouffer is brand-new to tennis, but he's a hard worker with talent. He will grow this year."

Boys tennis starts its matches earlier than other spring sports, so Hill had only a week to figure out what his team would look like for the opener.

"I'll take the weather we've had, but we did have rain two days last week, so we really had only three days to figure out our ladder," Hill said. "It was a challenge, because with having 14 new players, I haven't seen them play before. So we were teaching fundamentals while trying to figure out the lineup.

"What I want to see is the guys increase their confidence while playing in a match. A match is different than just hitting in practice."

NOTES: The Trojans also play Thursday this week, at Lower Dauphin … Chambersburg was 3-10 last year (1-5 Mid Penn Commonwealth), but did win three of its last four matches … Hill said, "It's a great group of guys. They are really embracing the fitness — they want to do the running. That's good to see."