Last season, Emmaus provided one of the tougher matches for Parkland tennis. This season, Emmaus lost a couple key players to graduation and Parkland may be even stronger than it was a year ago, which led to the Trojans sweeping their recent match with their division rival.

Emmaus coach Dmitri Diamandopoulos tipped his hat to Parkland as he watched play throughout the afternoon.

Diamandopoulos pointed out the depth on Parkland's roster and believes that even their No. 3 singles player, Peter Harrison, could be a No. 1 player on many of the local high school teams.

For Parkland coach Mike Hingston, that depth makes things pretty easy. He admits though that there are times when he wishes things could somehow be a little different for some of his players.

"In some respects, it almost makes you feel a little bad as a coach," he said, "because there are guys that know how to play and they can't get in a match on a varsity court because of that depth and they work hard and they're good players."

At the same time, Hingston knows that the team's depth and those good players who don't get to play in matches are exactly what makes his team so successful now and in the future.

"What helps to make us so strong is our practices, because they go hard at each other," said Hingston. "Because we do have a lot of good players, our guys get a good workout and, in some cases, the best competition that they face comes in practice.

"Another thing that makes us tough is that our guys know that there's competition behind them and they have to train hard in the off-season, because there's always someone who could take their spot."

Nobody in local tennis has faced tougher competition in the early going than Nick Kshatri, Parkland's No. 1 singles player. Kshatri had to face Pleasant Valley's John White and then had to take on Emmaus' Matt FitzMaurice on Monday. Ksharti disposed of White 6-1, 7-6 and then beat FitzMaurice 6-4, 6-1. FitzMaurice struggled with a bad shoulder throughout the match, especially in the second set.

Kshatri, FitzMaurice, White and Freedom's Andrew Sinai generally are thought of as the top four players in the area and just four matches into the season, Kshatri has fought his way through two of his three top competitors.

"I don't think it makes a big difference," Kshatri said. "You could say it was nice to get it out of the way, but it wouldn't have mattered if it was later in the season.

"I feel like I'm playing pretty well. Obviously, today Matt wasn't up to his game, so this wasn't true of what our match usually is. But I feel good about my own game and I hope that I can continue playing well."

"Nick is a very heady player," said Hingston. "He knows how to manufacture points and knows how to get wins. Early on, having played John White and Matt [FitzMaurice] already, that's big to have those two matches out of the way and have wins, because that will help him when it comes time for seeding.

"He never has a bad day, never has a bad practice, never has a bad match, he's just so reliable that it's almost like it's automatic. It doesn't surprise me, that's just the way he is."

Nate Lyman and Harrison also picked up wins in singles against Emmaus, while Caleb Wade and Tom Lichtenwalner, Aneesh Kapoor and Alex Wu, Kishan Unjia and Nick Hawk, Peter Son and Alex Son all picked up wins in doubles competition against Emmaus.

Parkland will be taking part in a tournament in Phoenixville this week and hosting Easton next Tuesday.