You would think that the coach of a tennis team that is 10-0 on the season wouldn't have a care in the world. Not so with Parkland's Mike Hingston. A backlog of matches has prevented him from doing the part of his job that he loves best: coaching.

"I have found it to be a little frustrating, because it seems like we've never really established a momentum," said Hingston. "I mean we have record-wise and we've played well and competed well, but the contact time in practice, sometimes, is where you get a sense of where your team is and a little more of a connection.

"I personally enjoy the practices and we're good and deep, so our practices are very meaningful and guys get a lot of work and we haven't had a lot of that."

The Trojans have played 10 matches in 11 days, including playing a double-header where they played an afternoon match at Central Catholic and then returned home to play a match under the lights against Bethlehem Catholic. Hingston is quick to point out that he's not complaining about how things have gone and that his team certainly isn't alone in being deprived of practice time, since every school has faced the same issues.

Number three singles player Peter Harrison hasn't been as sharp as he would like to be and had an added distraction to go along with the backlog of matches.

Harrison, besides having talent on the court, was also a part of the spring musical at Parkland, which put even bigger demands on his time. The senior admitted that his tennis game suffered a little, but with the musical now in the rear view mirror, his game has rebounded nicely.

"It all kind of adds up and I get a little bit tired, but that's finished and I feel better," said Harrison, who is 9-1 on the season. "It's tough, but when you love it, it gets a little bit easier."

The biggest win of the season came last Thursday against Freedom, who Hingston believes is one of the better teams in the area. While high school tennis fans in the area are aware of their top singles player, Andrew Sinai, Hingston found out that the Patriots are more than just one player.

"Sinai is Sinai, but they have a freshman [Aidan Bodeo-Lomicky], who is playing number two for them and he is a legitimate player," said Hingston. "He could play number one for a lot of teams and then, they have Ross [Sonnenblick] at three, so their one-two-three punch is as good as anybody's."

Freedom presented possibly the toughest challenge to Parkland's 127 match conference winning streak in a long time. The Trojans pulled out a 4-2 win to keep the streak intact and possibly send a message that they're still the best team in the EPC. For the players, it was just another win, but Harrison says that it's almost impossible to not at least have the streak in the back of your mind.

"If you think about it too much, you might get a little bit nervous," he said. "But it's there. It's in your head."

The EPC Tournament gets under way this Friday and Parkland figures to be a prominent part of the matches. In the meantime, Parkland continues to just battle through this weird season that has seen its share of postponements and schedule changes that have made things more difficult for every team. In Parkland's case, Hingston is happy with how his players have handled the distractions and have come through in good shape.

"All-in-all, the guys have done a great job with all of the last minute changes," said Hingston.