Talk to each tennis coach at Pocatello’s three high schools and you will hear the same words — young, inexperienced, rebuilding.

Pocatello, Century and Highland each lost a number of seniors a year ago, and all three feature freshmen and sophomores where juniors and seniors once dominated.

“I lost 12 seniors from last year’s team,” said Pocatello coach Jan Goodell. “We are rebuilding this year. Basically we only have four seniors on our team this year, and only one of these has been on the team the past four years.”

All four of Poky’s seniors are boys. There are no seniors or juniors on the girls’ squad this season.

In fact, Goodell wasn’t initially certain she would even have a full team of 18 players this season.

“When I started my first meeting this season, we only had 17 kids,” she said. “You can’t even start a roster with that many. Right now, we have a number of kids who are basically (junior varsity) that will be starting varsity.”

She’s not alone.

Century tennis coach Sean Kane is also heading into the season with no senior girls and just one senior boy. In addition to the seniors lost from last year’s team, he also lost Shayan and Shirven Zoghi, who would have played as a junior and sophomore respectively. They moved away.

“It will be a learning process this year, but I still think we will be competitive in some categories,” Kane said. “We do have a number of girls returning and a really strong freshman.”

That freshman is Olivia Wathne, who Kane said has been playing several years and comes in with significant experience. He anticipates she will lead the way for his girls’ singles’ squad.

Highland’s first-year coach Ron Osborn also has a team that is in short supply of seniors, boasting just two. That’s one on the boys’ team and one on the girls’ team.

But the new coach and his assistants aren’t putting a ton of pressure on the young players to perform this season. They aren’t throwing in the towel on the season, but they are focusing on growing as individuals and as a team this season.

He called the timing of the change in leadership on the Highland team serendipitous.

“It’s a perfect fit at the right time. I am looking forward to learning the coaching part of this as they learn tennis,” Osborn said. “We have a young team that is eager to learn and I haven’t put a lot of expectations on the season.”

Although Highland is young, it is not without talent.

The doubles duo of Camille Cameron and Mandy Smith, both sophomores, is returning for a second year on the girls’ side. And on the boys’ side, Matt Livermore and Evan Harrison are already showing they are striving to fill the shoes of dominant doubles players E.J. Norton and Matt Osberg, who graduated last year.

Harrison and Livermore won their first match on Thursday against Blackfoot.

Highland beat Blackfoot 10-2, and outside of the two matches lost, the team lost only two other sets.

Century’s youth may also be deceptive. Aside from Wathne, Kane’s lineup will also feature a freshman on the boys’ side, Josh Goodwin, who the coach anticipates will do well out of the gate.

“We are young but we have a lot of good pieces and some young people who are good and will start in varsity spots,” Kane said. “We have a pretty good reputation of winning and being competitive. Most people who come to play for Century know this.”