It's hard for the Jefferson City Jays tennis team not to already look forward to the district tournament in May.
When district assignments for the 2019 season were announced March 8, it didn't take long for the Jays to notice a rival was no longer in their district.
"The first thing I noticed is Rock Bridge is in District 8 and Jeff City is in District 9," Jays coach Henry Thompson said. "It's how we used to have it on the girls side, but that's the first time ever on the boys side."
Jefferson City's season begins today at Waynesville, and districts are a ways down the road, but Rock Bridge has been in the Final Four every season since 2002.
"Just to know that someone else has to beat you before the Final Four, it just totally changes everything," Thompson said.
The Jays are in Class 2 District 9 with Lee's Summit, Lee's Summit North, Lee's Summit West and Sedalia Smith-Cotton.
"We're definitely not in an easy district," Thompson said. " But at least we know that we have more of a chance than ever before to compete for a district title. And that changes everything. It get the kids more motivation, it gets us coaches motivated."
Jefferson City returns three starters to its lineup, beginning with sophomore Josh Wilde. He will bump up from No. 2 singles to No. 1 this season.
"He's one of the most talented players I've ever been around here," Thompson said. "More so than anyone, that new district assignment will benefit him, because he's got a legitimate chance to make a state tournament."
Atul Krishnadas, a junior, will also move up one spot to No. 2.
"He had some great wins for us," Thompson said. "His game is looking even better than it was last year."
Junior Alec Krumm is the Jays' third varsity returner. After playing No. 5 singles last season, he'll be at No. 3 this spring.
"His game has looked great so far in practice," Thompson said. " He's much more consistent right now with a little bit more pace."
Ben Folz, a junior, is slated at No. 4, followed by senior Kyle Yungbluth at No. 5. Thompson said he's been trying to get Folz to play tennis for a couple years and become a three-sport athlete.
"He's going to win a lot of matches where he might not be the better tennis player, but he's just going to compete hard and never give up," Thompson said.
Yungbluth played on the varsity last season at the Edwardsville (Ill.) Tournament.
"He's one of those kids where they come in as freshmen, they work really hard and you hope by their senior year they can contribute in a big way," Thompson said.
Competing for the No. 6 spot are junior Dylan Green and senior Trent Kempker.
Others who could see some varsity action this season are senior Will Mollenkamp and sophomores Jaydep Halder, Darby Hall and Samarth Sinha.
The Jays play three matches in three days to start the season, playing their home opener Thursday at Washington Park against Camdenton and then hosting Lebanon on Friday.
Thompson said he will likely try different doubles pairings in those matches to see what will work best for the Jays.
"Josh is our most talented player, both in singles and doubles," Thompson said. "He's going to be at the top doubles spot with someone, I just don't know who yet.
"After that, we just have to find people who work well together. One thing I look for in all doubles pairings is a leader. A coach can't be out there all the time, and one of those two has to be a coach and a leader."
Thompson said his doubles lineup last season wasn't set until mid-to-late April.
"By districts, we had it all figured out, and we ended up taking care of business pretty well with it," he said.
In addition to Edwardsville, the Jays have the Springfield Invitational and the Columbia Duals on their schedule, along with 12 dual matches.
Thompson is hopeful a strong schedule will have his team playing its best when the postseason begins.
"What I really want from them is every single practice, every single match, to just try to get better at one little thing each day," Thompson said, "whether it's becoming more consistent on a certain ground stroke or improving your first-serve percentage."