Locked and reloaded, the Diamond Bar High School boys tennis team is ready to take on the 2017 season with a balanced starting line-up featuring two seniors, three juniors, two sophomores and two freshmen.

After a strong 2016 campaign that saw the team reach the third round of the CIF Playoffs, the boys are hungry for more success.

Even with the loss of multiple seniors, the Brahmas are confident in this season’s team. With an 8-2 league record from last year, the players believe they can take home a Palomares title.  Only one team stands as a threat to the team’s bid.

“It’ll come down to how we play against Claremont. They didn’t lose a lot of guys and we lost to them twice last year. It’s going to be tight,” junior captain Nicholas Wong said.

The Brahmas’ were both against the Claremont Wolfpack, 11-7 and 10-8, last season. The Wolfpack took last year’s league title while the Brahmas placed second.

Compared to last year’s team, the 2017 boys lost a bit of skill to graduation with the departures No.1 singles captain Garrett Masuda, No.1 doubles player David Chee, and No.2 Austin Chang, but the Brahmas feel what they lack in skill is covered by manpower.

“This year has a little less overall skill, but more depth. Our subs this year are pretty strong,” Wong said.

Coming into this year, the team made sure to address the problem of chemistry as double players have to partner up. According to Wong, head coach Carl Flint has done a good job in fixing the problem, which led to a strong 3-2 start.

“Last season, we had just as much skill or even more skill, but we were just trying to find the right combinations like where we should play and who they should be playing with. But this year, everything came together more quickly and has led to more success.”

The Brahmas started the preseason with a tough 14-4 loss against D1 team Beckman. Since then, the boys have dominated three straight games: 13-5 against Walnut, 17-1 versus Villa Park, and 12-6 against Orange Lutheran. The team finished the preseason with a 11-7 loss against Valencia.

The boys began the season with a 14-4 win over Glendora on Thursday.