Undefeated in the 2015 tennis season, Liz Christine was one of two freshmen in the varsity singles flights for Mount St. Joseph. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

At the Mount St. Joseph Academy tennis courts, Joy Grafenstine is back for her second season as head coach after taking over for longtime Mount mentor Ron Mutchnik. As in 2015, Grafenstine will be assisted by Amy Christine, the mother of one former and one current Mountie.

The Magic only graduated two seniors off of last year's roster, and neither of them performed in varsity matches. That's bad news for rival teams in the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies, because last fall Mount St. Joe seized the league championship with a perfect 14-0 record. The Magic won a pair of 3-2 matches from Villa Joseph Marie, and captured all of their other AACA contests by scores of 4-1, or 5-0.

The Magic also knocked off teams from three nearby public schools, making for an overall mark of 17-0.

As ninth graders in 2015, Stow Weiss and Liz Christine played first and third singles, respectively, with current senior Julianne Dischler positioned at number two. The results of the early challenge matches last week have caused Christine and Dischler to swap positions on the team ladder.

Dischler's classmates Katie O'Sullivan and Ali Nowak were paired up at first doubles, but out of the second doubles tandem from 2015 only one player is back out on the court, senior Meredith Fink.

To launch the season, Coach Grafenstine has two other 12th-graders, Annaugh Devitt and Caroline Savage, working together as the second doubles unit.

When the Magic play outside of their league in a seven-match format, Fink will be in the mix for one of the doubles flights, as will Emma Mirabelli and Bridget Malott. The latter two are juniors who are practicing as a pair already.