The Little Giant tennis team is filled with enthusiasm entering the upcoming spring season. The team, composed of experienced upperclassmen and talented newcomers, looks to vie for a top position in the North Coast Athletic Conference.
 
"This is my tenth year at Wabash and I fully expect this year to be one of the best," Head Coach Jason Hutchison said. "We have a good mix of senior leaders and strong freshmen who have really shown some good things."
 
The lack of widespread collegiate experience seems to be a weakness. However, Coach Hutchison believes the freshmen are ready to do great things.
 
"The young guys have already played in a lot of high profile, high pressure situations," he said. "They've been in big-time situations. So I think that when they're in a Wabash College tennis match they're going to be good.
 
"I keep reminding [the freshmen] that they've already seen everything they're going to see here. The seniors who have been here for four years are helping in that aspect."

Nate Koelper, one of two seniors on the team, does not take this responsibility lightly.
 
"Being one of two seniors on the team the leadership does fall on Wade Miller and me, especially with the large number of freshmen," Koelper said.
 
"We try to provide a good example by working hard in practice and the off season workouts, as well as sharing our knowledge and experience with the younger players because experience is a huge factor in the transition from high school to college tennis."
 
The large influx of youth on the team has also brought a lot of energy and enthusiasm. But the ability of the leaders to focus the energy will be a key task to finding success during the season.
 
"When we started doing some conditioning drills, early on the freshmen were pretty eager and were winning a lot of the sprints," Coach Hutchison said. "All of the sudden, once we got into it and the seniors got their feet back underneath them, it was more so the seniors who were winning because they didn't want the young guys beating them."
 
Mark Troiano thinks this added competitiveness will be what makes this year's team better.
 
"All our players are competitive against each other," he said. "In years past we've had three or four players at the top, but everyone now can beat each other on a given day making us all better."
 
The NCAC is a difficult conference and success will depend upon improving every day. Still, the team expects success.
 
"The team is capable of finishing in the top four teams of the NCAC which is good considering the stiff competition," Koelper said. "We have the opportunity to give DePauw and Denison a run for their money."
 
The Little Giants start their season 9 a.m. Saturday at Augustana College with matches against the host Vikings and Edgewood College.