The Coupeville tennis team, hit hard by graduation, will have new faces in new places this year.

Coach Ken Stange returns just one player, junior Nathan Lamb, who has “played the highest level of varsity matches (No. 1 singles or No. 1 doubles).”

Lamb, a two-time district doubles champion, will move into the No. 1 singles slot. Junior letterman Ben Wehrman is set to man the No. 2 singles spot. “After that, it’s all up in the air,” according to Stange.

Stange welcomes back four other lettermen, senior Larry Hurlburt and sophomores Jason Knoll, Brandon Kelley and Konrad Borden.

Newcomers include sophomores Brian Norris, Jake McCormick and Cameron Boyd and freshman Aaron Curtin.

Stange said Knoll, Hurlburt, Kelley and Curtin are all “battling for spots at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles.”

Stange, who lost four key athletes to graduation, said, “I’ll take my 10 guys and we’ll roll with it.”

Regardless of who is playing where, “everyone will see some varsity action this year,” Stange said.

Friday Harbor is the only other 1A school that plays tennis in the district, so the two schools will battle it out for the league and district titles.

Stange said, “I don’t really know what to expect this season. We are young and inexperienced, but Friday Harbor is rebuilding as well.

“The first week of practice has been enjoyable…my guys are willing to learn and they are having fun. That willingness to learn is our strength, while the inexperience is our weakness. We’re going to continue to improve and we’re going to continue to have fun.”

Stange said his goals for the year are for individual players to “learn how to play tennis with sound technique, allowing for continued growth and development,” and for the team to “beat Friday Harbor in the regular season series…(and to) take the top singles and doubles spot at the district tourney.”

The Wolves’ schedule is not complete, so their opening match is not yet set.