Members of the Hartselle High School boys and girls tennis teams are, from left, Katy Beth Bole, Jordan Barbrey, Karly Agee, Erika Roman, Allie Maples, Lizzie Howse, Catherine Bodley, Nidhi Vakharia, (back) Auston Howard, Steton Woodall, James Ashley, Josiah Lanier, Bo Brown, Levi Lanier, Connor Lawrence, Chris Johnson and Matt Pham.

The Hartselle High School tennis program is growing steadily with 18 girls and 14 boys from the high school and junior high teams.

They had to cut a large number of people during try-outs, according the coach Regina Hudson.

“We had a whole slew of kids try out this year, so we had to cut quite a bit,” Hudson said. “We have been growing from the success of previous years. Last year was the first year in the nine years I’ve been with Hartselle tennis that we didn’t have a team in state competition.”

Hudson said after losing only three senior boys last season, they have four senior girls and three senior boys this year.

“Several of our seniors have played either singles or doubles at state,” Hudson said. “Most of them bring several years of experience. Katherine Bodley, Katy Beth Bole and Jordan Barbrey are all four-year players. The boys team is a little younger and less experienced, but they have a better unity and attitude than past teams, so I think they still have a shot.”

Hartselle moves up to 6A with Florence, Muscle Shoals, Austin, Decatur, Lee and Athens in its section.

“I keep telling them they definitely won’t have any gimme matches this year,” Hudson said. “We have played some of these teams in matches before, but some of them are completely new to us. Despite the competition, I think we still have a good chance this year.”

The girls only missed that state competition by one match last year. This year they have been weight training and conditioning in the offseason. Their practices consist of drills, challenge matches and matches to determine rankings.

Hartselle played their season opener against Cullman Feb. 3.