A question hangs over the Ridge View boys tennis team this season. Can the Blazers find success without a dominant player in the lineup?

“When we headed into a match in seasons past with Lane Hinson in the lineup, we felt we were going to get one point right there,” Ridge View coach John Combs said. “This year, 1 through 4, we’re the deepest we’ve ever been, and there really isn’t that much difference between our No. 1 and No. 4. But, we don’t have anyone like Lane (who graduated). It will be interesting to see if the guys can step up and be consistent enough for us to win matches that way.”

The first result was promising. Ridge View claimed a 4–2 victory against Richland Northeast on Monday, March 15, the Blazers’ first victory against the Cavaliers. The match was Ridge View’s opener as a result of rainouts last week.

Though seventh– grader Trevor Dunn lost in straight sets at No. 1 singles, the Blazers won the remaining singles matches, including three in tiebreaking third sets by Cameron Dunn (10–5) at No. 3 singles, Kyle Edwards (10–3) at No. 4, and Patrick McClelland (10–8) at No. 5. Edwards earned the decisive point.

Richland Northeast was playing with a shuffled lineup. No. 1 Steven White remained sidelined with a finger injury sustained last week. Even without White, RNE coach Dan Strickland expected a better performance from the Cavaliers (1–1).

“I’ve been talking all season about the need to give an extra little bit,” Strickland said. “And, today, because of things they did not do since last week, it caught up to us. We had a lot of momentum going into the season up to this point after playing two preseason tournaments. We’ve played 11 matches coming into this match. Eleven, that’s a lot. The rough edges should not be there at this point. But they are, and I’ve warned them. If you do not put the extra time into this game, the matches like this are going to catch up to you. We’ve been way too close in too many matches.”

Mark Graham and the doubles team of Nick Wiedner and Preston Smarr earned wins for Richland Northeast.