For the Jemison boys tennis team, their visit to the Cox Tennis Center in Mobile on April 26-27 will be the program’s ninth consecutive season to compete in the state tournament.

The Panthers advanced despite losing five seniors from last year’s team and starting three new players.

“There were a lot of questions about who was going to step up after finishing third in the state last year,” JHS coach Benton Morton said. “Trevan Anderson, Dylan Cummings and Brett Paschal met the challenge.”

Jemison posted a 9-2 regular season record, and at the section tournament at O’Connor Park in Montgomery, Panthers competed in seven of the nine championship matches as they finished second in the section, good enough to qualify for the Class 4A state tournament.

Jemison’s girls finished in fourth at the sectional.

“Not bad when we started four new players,” Morton said. “They really improved over the course of the year and finished the regular season 6-6.

“Tanya Liveoak, Samantha Cochran, Sarah Brantley and Kayla Smith did a good job in filling the vacant spots. It’s something to build on for sure because we had only one senior.”