Mexico girls tennis has 10 kids new to tennis this year and will have to fill three varsity spots.

Still, the Lady Bulldogs have several players expected to lead the team with their notable experience. 

Head coach Kim Costley said Mexico has five seniors and also four foreign exchange kids out of the 24 kids — eight juniors and seven sophomores — in the program this year. Two of those returning varsity spots will be owned by returning award winners from a year ago as senior Katie Gooch and junior Jyllian Whitworth were all-district. Lani Blair is another one of the seniors that will return to varsity.

“Our general ground strokes at the varsity level are coming along nicely,” Costley said. “We had several girls play in the offseason and I think it is showing because they are coming into the season ready to work on something new. We will need to work with new doubles team combinations and sharpen our net play.”

Whitworth also earned all-North Central Missouri Conference a year ago and so did juniors Claire Hudson and Lucy Gleeson. Costley said Hudson and Gleeson are expected to fight for the remaining varsity spots along with senior Diada Herra and juniors Alice Eggen and Riley Walker.

The Lady Bulldogs finished 7-6, with a 3-2 conference record, last season and earned second-place and third-place finishes at districts and conference, respectively. 

Costley said Mexico likes to focus on the fundamentals as the winning usually comes as the girls improve. She said the Lady Bulldogs have 27 practices and have to make them count as most girls don’t play tennis until high school. 

“We have improved vastly over the years as a team,” Costley said. “We are competing with the conference and district and continue to push forward to earn a championship trophy. We are hoping to improve on our winning record and make a run in conference and district again this year.”