In his fourth year as tennis coach at Coupeville High School Ken Stange said he has a number of very talented players returning for the 2008 season, including his number and number two singles players.

“Juniors Connor Tasoff and Jordan Lamb have both played on the varsity since their freshman years and they are two good ones,” Stange said.

Also returning are senior Jeff Boyer and sophomore Ben Hayes, who played second doubles in 2007, and the third doubles team of juniors Travis Curtin and and Garrett Knoll.

“Travis and Garrett were undefeated last year and they sure won’t be playing as the number three team this year,” Stange said.

Joining the team is sophomore Isaac Wacker who Stange said has looked promising in early season practice sessions.

Stange said he has been stressing swing fundamentals, footwork and mechanics in practice and the players have been showing a lot of improvement in hitting he ball.

Coupeville has just one opponent in its league, Friday Harbor, and that presents a problem.

“Friday Harbor has six of their top eight players back and they are going to be a very tough team,” Stange said. “I lost a couple of my players from last year’s team, they weren’t my number one and number two players, but they weren’t my number seven and number eight.”

Stange said the Wolves have talented players on the team and are excited about the season.

“I have a lot of returning guys and we are solid one through eight,” he said. “All of the players are familiar to me and I’ve enjoyed working with them. The guys just keep getting better.”

Coupeville hosts Marysville-Pilchuck in the first match of the season at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 10.