The three Times News area tennis teams find themselves in different situations heading into the 2017 season.

Pleasant Valley and Tamaqua both return their top singles players from a year ago while Jim Thorpe must replace its entire singles lineup.JIM THORPE2016 SUCCESS... The Jim Thorpe girls tennis squad was 9-7 last season. Brittney Marzen (No. 1), Marni Quevedo (No. 2), Caitlin Holt (No. 3), Ellana Adames, and Lauren Hill have all graduated."We're trying to make up for those seniors playing singles, it will be pretty tough," said Jim Thorpe head coach Norb Lienhard, who is in his 22nd season at the helm of the program.BIG TURNOUT... Lienhard said he has15 girls out for the team this year, six whom are freshmen. Keep an eye on freshman Christy McLean, who is making the jump to No. 2 singles for the Olympians. "She's been coming to all of my camps since I had them," said Lienhard. "She's falling right into the number two spot. I never had a freshmen play that high for me. She's just a good kid and she loves the game. She's playing since she was three or four and maybe even earlier."WE'RE BACK!... Returning for Thorpe includes Trisanna Samuels, Triselle Samuels, Leanne Van Essendelft, Angelica Uzar, Kaitlyn O'Neil, Chloe Getz, and Evelyn Flores. "We always make goals that we want to improve each match," Lienhard said. "Sometimes we have to take it game by game. Hopefully they can pick up the pace, and I think they will. There's not a problem on the team and they all have great attitudes."PARTING WAYS... Assistant coach Janet Farra stepped away as Lienhard's assistant after nine season. Former Times News Player of the Year Brent Reabold is jumping on board as Jim Thorpe new assistant. "We worked well together," said Linehard. "It was a really hard decision or her to leave, but she needed to do it. Just out of the blue, Brent called me. I was looking for a coach and someone to work with. He was an assistant track coach at Panther Valley. It's nice having someone that I coached coaching with me now. It's pretty neat."PLEASANT VALLEYONE AND TWO… The Bears will return their top-two singles players from lasts season. Plying No. 1 will be senior Masani Francis. "Masani is very athletic," said head coach Mark Allison. "She's a very good basketball player. It's tough for her to get tennis time out there. But she's hitting the ball better then last year. Her athleticism great I expect her to have a great year."Behind her at No. 2 is senior Haley White. "She's hitting groundstrokes well. I expect her to improve off last year," Allison added. Both players qualified for district singles in 2016.SOPHOMORE SISTERS… Alyssa and Riley Wagner, both sophomores, will play singles for the first time this season. "They came out as freshmen for the first time and never really played before," Allison said. "They were probably the two most improved players on the team. They're good athletes who work really hard and were exciting to have on the team."LOOK FOR… Keep an eye on Kalleigh West (Sr.), Arielle Holding (Sr.), Grace Vento (Jr.), Cambry Galler (Jr.), who all have varsity doubles experience. Rebecca Makrides (So.) is new to the team but could see action. They're a hard working group. They work hard at practice. They're fun to work with. They all get along and they all pull for each other. It's a good group overall."GOALS, GOALS, GOALS… Allison, in his 26th season, wants his players to improve. "We'd like to improve on last year's season. We always like to make a challenge in our league; we're in a tough league of course with the East Penn Conference. We proved ourselves last year, being one of the top teams in our area, overall record-wise. And we'd like to do that again."TAMAQUALEADERS… Brooke Williams and Alexis Breiner return as the captain and co-captains of the team respectively. "We're trying to get the program back on track," said Tamaqua head coach Rich Gibson. Williams played No. 1 most of last season and qualified for the District 11 singles tournament.OFFICIALLY AT THE HELM… Gibson volunteered last year when the program was in jeopardy. "We too our lumps, but we did win our last match (last season)," said Gibson. "I decided to take on the head coaching position this year and I'm looking forward to it.PUTTING IN WORK… Gibson and assistant coach Jim Dean held clinics every Monday during the summer to teach the basics to newer players.GRADUATED… Tamaqua lost key 2016 seniors Keyla Saez, Carmen Gonzalez, and Allison Miller.OTHER CONTRIBUTORS... Emily Fisher, Molly Clemson, Madison Wickersham, and Annika Shahler will aim to make a splash this season.