Despite having to rebuild all three doubles teams, Oak Ridge High’s varsity boys’ tennis team figures to compete for the Division II section title this season.

The Trojans return all but one singles player from a year ago and add two talented freshmen to the lineup. Brandon Sutter and Jimmy Giovannini join a talented group of singles players including senior Austin Hall, juniors Tanner Schmutte, Andrew Hall and Alex Charn and sophomore Nic Atkinson.

Senior Jake Hasse leads the doubles players along with sophomore Jonathan Kim.

“We’ve got a very strong team,” Oak Ridge coach Pat Ryan said. “We should be very strong at singles with all but one player returning, plus the addition Brandon and Jimmy.”

Last week Oak Ridge had no trouble against Sierra Valley Conference opponents Union Mine and Liberty Ranch, beating Union Mine 8-1 and shutting out Liberty Ranch, 9-0.

Ryan said his squad should win the conference title.

“I would be shocked if we didn’t win the league,” Ryan said. “In Division II, I think Rio Americano, Granite Bay and Del Oro will be the top teams to contend with.”

At the California High School Tennis Classic in Clovis March 4-6, Rio Americano won the Division II bracket, while Oak Ridge took 12th out of 16 teams in the Division I bracket.

“I was happy with how we did,” Ryan said, “considering we were playing without Brandon, who was recovering from an injury.”

Oak Ridge travels to Galt today for a match beginning at 3:30 p.m. and heads to Cordova for another match on Monday.