This year’s girls tennis squad is a young one. With a roster chock-full of sophomores and juniors, the girls are looking forward to proving themselves during a rebuilding season.

“I graduated eight girls last year, so I lost half of my squad,” said Head Coach Gayle Bailey. “We’ll probably be in more of a rebuilding year, but I’m confident that my girls will still squeak out a lot of wins.”

Though the girls are young, they’re not new to tennis. Bailey brought a number of athletes up from the JV squad and knows that as they play more tennis, they’ll become more confident and more aggressive.

“They’re going to do well, it’s just a matter of playing more tennis,” she said. “As the season goes on, I’m confident that we’ll continue to do well and get stronger.”

Aside from the leadership duo of Bailey and Assistant Coach Angie Basch, Ashlyn Foreman and Rowan Edmonds are expected to be leaders as the team’s only seniors. Though Foreman is the captain, both ladies are often seen helping their new teammates.

“They’ve been on varsity for a couple of years now, they know how things run,” Bailey said. “More importantly, they’re great leaders. They’re good to the younger kids, they’re helpful, they’re accessible and they’re willing to do whatever needs to be done to keep our team successful.”

Under their leadership, the team is aiming to go undefeated in the OAA Blue for the fourth consecutive year this season. Along the way, they’re looking forward to playing out-of-league teams like Rochester.

In any case, they’re not letting the “rebuilding” label stop them from being great.

“Just because we’re rebuilding doesn’t mean these girls can’t be fire,” Bailey said.

On March 27, the ladies took a loss in their first game of the season in a 5-3 match against Lake Orion.

With a 0-1 record, Oxford took on Royal Oak at home on April 9 after the Leader went to press. They will play again on April 11 when they travel to Farmington Harrison.