Nine freshmen on the court is the tip of the iceberg for coach Adam Ihde, who is seeing his biggest turnout in seven years at the helm of the Enumclaw High boys tennis team.

“The first day of practice we had 24, more than we’ve ever had,” Ihde said, referring to assistant coach Curtis Cheney. Ihde believes in a no-cut program, so everyone’s staying on the court to gain experience.

There are a handful of returning players including seniors Jeremy McCarthy, who saw subdistrict doubles play with Charlie Redman, who graduated, Luke Andrew and Matt Zender and sophomores Tyler McCarthy and Dan Milat.

The 2008 season was not kind to the Hornets, who for the first time since Ihde has been the leader didn’t make a district showing. It’s early in the season, but he expects that to change.

He anticipates Auburn Mountainview to be the team to beat in the South Puget Sound League 3A this season. The Hornets start Sept. 9 at home with Yelm. They won’t see Auburn Mountainview until Sept. 25.