ROCHELLE — After being rained out over the weekend, the Hubs varsity tennis team took the court Tuesday afternoon for its first match of the season against the Mendota Trojans. And while the purple and white fell by a score of 5-0, head coach Kristy Eckardt said she was pleased with how her boys came out in their first game action of the year.

“For a lot of these guys it was their first match ever,” Eckardt said. “You never quite know what to expect, but we had some good matches and some really good points… They had fun out there and that’s what we’re always looking for.”

Junior Hub Kevin Zheng faced off against Mendota senior Cam Phalen in No. 1 singles, while sophomore Chris Jones took on Trojan junior Blake Stamberger in No. 2 singles. Both Zheng and Jones went down by match scores of 6-0, 6-0, but Eckardt said the two boys showed flashes of brilliance on the singles court.

“Kevin was serving really well today,” she said. “For both of them it’s just a matter of being consistent and staying confident. That will come along as the season goes forward.”

In doubles action, senior Bryan Garcia and sophomore Hector Garcia split the first two games with Mendota’s Paco Romero and Christian Salinas in the No. 1 matchup, with the Garcia combo winning the second game 6-4 after Romero and Salinas took the first game 6-1. The Rochelle boys battled hard, but the Trojans emerged victorious in the tiebreaker, outscoring the Hubs 10-1 in the third set for the doubles point.

Rochelle juniors Ozzy Fulgencio and Tyler Nalley fell to Mendota sophomores Preston Lewis and Zach Rinaldo in No. 2 doubles by a score of 0-6, 1-6. On the third court, freshmen Ben Hickey and Max Torres gave the Trojans’ No. 3 pair of senior Erik Cortez and sophomore Eddy Perez fits in the first game, with the Mendota duo edging by the Hubs 7-6 in the first game.

Cortez and Perez won the second game 6-1 to complete the Trojans’ sweep of the Hubs on Tuesday, but Eckardt said she was happy with how the two freshmen stepped up and played at the varsity level with a few players missing due to spring break.

“We do have a couple kids missing for vacation so we asked them to step into that spot,” she said. “They’re both athletic and they’ve been picking up the sport pretty quickly… They still have a lot to learn but it was a great start for them.”

The Hubs will return for three matches next week. The boys will travel to Belvidere North on Monday, April 3 before returning home for two Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference matches against Ottawa (Tuesday, April 4) and Yorkville (Thursday, April 6). The results may not have gone in Rochelle’s favor this week, but Eckhardt said the match against Mendota will give her varsity players a taste of what’s to come in the future.

“Just seeing what the competition is like and what to expect from other teams will help them,” she said. “They can’t get too comfortable playing against each other and we know we have to keep pushing and be aggressive.”