Addie Layne is the lone senior on the Poplar Bluff tennis team this fall but the Lady Mules return four starters. Poplar Bluff opens the season a week from today on the road. (Brian Rosener/DAR) [Click to enlarge]

By BRIAN ROSENER ~ DAR Sports Editor

Poplar Bluff tennis coach Michelle Massey has a good problem and a bad one.

More than 20 girls came out for the team this fall looking to grab one of the six varsity spots, but there's only two weeks between the first practice and first match at Fredericktown a week from today.

"Since it's been just a week, I still don't know," said Massey of naming her varsity team. "I'm still trying to learn all the names, too, since I didn't coach last year."

There are four Lady Mules -- Jessica Gray, Alli Poteet, Jennie Hubbard and Kelsey Olsen -- who return with varsity experience and 11 more who were on the junior varsity team last fall. Poplar Bluff finished fifth at the district tournament last fall and was 2-9 as a team in matches.

Massey's varsity lineup, or ladder, is set by preseason competition and so far those matches have been tight.

"Everybody is really serious about where they are on the ladder -- on varsity or junior varsity, it's kind of a big deal," said Addie Layne, the lone senior on the roster.

Massey said that from the No. 3 spot on the ladder down to 12, her players are all pretty level.

"Probably four of our varsity spots are wide open," Massey said. "I don't know who's going to get them."

Part of that improved competition is the fact that many of the players went to summer camps or had lessons to work on their game before the team got together last week.

The preseason competition for a varsity spot is designed to prepare the player for the season and the tough matches ahead.

Each of the players control their own destiny, so to speak, when it comes to where in the lineup they play. That's not always a good thing, Layne said.

"In a lot of ways it puts more pressure on yourself but it kind of depends on the girl," she noted. "The more pressure that's put on me, it seems like the better I do."

Layne maybe the only senior this fall, however, there will be plenty of them next year. Gray, Poteet, Hubbard and Olsen headline a class that also includes Rachael Brodell, Lisa Keele, Cory McCauley, Julie Wells and Frani Dunivan.

"Every match they play, they're going to be getting their experience for their senior year," said Massey, who coached the team in 2006..

Underclassmen include sophomore Cierra Baker, Taylor Worley, Emily Gilmore, Darby Provance, Poojah Parekh, Marinda Spradling and Marissa McLane. Massey said that some of the freshmen, who include Caroline Penny and Vivian Turner, already have some experience on the court.

The Lady Mules host the first of seven matches starting Aug. 26 against Jackson.

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This is the second in a series of previews featuring Poplar Bluff teams. Tuesday's edition will feature softball.