Summer has quickly transitioned into fall for the Aberdeen Roncalli tennis squad.

A little more than a week ago, some the girls were competing in a summer tournament and less than a week from now, the Cavaliers will play in their season-opening matches.

“They’ve been working over the winter, and they’ve been looking forward to this for a long time, and here we are,” said Roncalli coach Jason Haskell. “It feels like summer just started, and we’re starting our season. We’re ready to get after it.”

The Cavaliers will be long on experience as five of the top six players are back from a year ago. They include seniors Katherine Kretchman, Raley Haskell, and River Haskell, junior Keira Rivett, and sophomore Josie Mitzel.

“We lost one starter at the number 4 spot last year,” Coach Haskell said, “so 1, 2 and 3 are all back again, and 5 is moving up.”

Last year’s lineup featured Kretchman at flight one singles, River Haskell at flight two (fifth at state), Raley Haskell at flight three, Rivett at flight five and Mitzel at flight six. While coach Haskell is not anticipating a major shakeup to that order, he said nothing is set in stone.

“There’s always flexibility. I don’t like the term challenge match,” Coach Haskell said. “I’m constantly evaluating what’s best for my team, what’s best for the players on my team. … Some kids play a lot over the summer, some play less over the summer, some play none over the summer. So some may have jumped, some may have regressed.”

Whatever the case, the Cavaliers won’t have much time to get things settled. Their first matches take place on Tuesday when they host Mitchell and Huron in a triangular.

“It’s how tennis works. On the girls’ side of it, it hits early, on the boys’ side of it, it ends early,” Coach Haskell said. “It’s just one of the things you deal with in South Dakota when you’re playing on the fringes of weather.”

The coach said his players have a high tennis IQ and understanding of the game.

“These girls have always been a part of tennis, never even thought about not being a part of tennis, and they’ve been around it for a long time,” he said. “Commitment and consistency, I think that will be the key to us having a strong season.”

The Cavaliers have a number of younger girls who are out for the sport this year. That means the future looks bright for Roncalli tennis.

“If we can get some of these younger kids to hop right in, step in, start learning the game, and like I said, commitment, not just playing in-season, but look at doing stuff out of season, during the summer, we’ll be in decent shape again come next year,” Coach Haskell said.

While the coach feels that his squad, which finished seventh as a team at last year’s State A Tournament, will be competitive against most foes again this season, especially in Class A, he does not want the players to focus on their records.

“I just hope that our girls are able to enjoy the sport and have fun,” Coach Haskell said. “I don’t want anybody to get too bent out of shape about wins and losses. I want it to be something they enjoy and when they’re done with me, they go on to life and they do it more.”