Edward Little High School tennis players Katie Morgan, left, Carly Wang, middle, and Serenity Evans, right, practice their serves during Wednesday's practice on the school's new tennis courts. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Edward Little boys and girls tennis teams no longer have to wade through traffic or cross a bridge to get to their practices and home matches.

For the first time since 2019, the Red Eddies have courts on campus. They have spent the past four seasons — there were no spring sports in 2020 — using the Lewiston High School courts while the new Edward Little High School was under construction.

“It’s really nice because we can start practice, right at 2:30 (p.m.),” Red Eddies senior Nora Condit said. “We get a few more minutes every day on the court because we can just walk right down, instead of having to drive to Lewiston, which, with the traffic of our new school, can be like a 20-, 30-minute drive. So it’s nice to be able to get right on the court right after school and get all those reps in.”

The courts also provide a nice playing atmosphere.

“So especially with the location of these courts, it’s nice and out in the open,” senior Alyssa Gallant said. “I’ve played at places, like schools where they’re in the woods a lot, and it’s buggy. And our new courts aren’t cracked. So, hopefully, they’ll be nice for a while.”

Having the courts on campus has reenergized the Edward Little tennis programs, especially the boys team, whose turnout has doubled this spring.

“The last four years, Lewiston has been great letting us use their courts, but we’ve struggled to put together a team,” boys coach Greg Vincent said. “We’ve had, I think, our most was nine. And some years, we had six, seven, eight, just barely enough to field the team. This year, right now, on my roster, as of today, I have 17. So I think just that alone, just having the convenience and the players can be right here in school and not have to travel to Lewiston has made a world of difference.”

Among those new players is freshman Luke Wilson, who decided to play tennis over competing in track and field.

Kadan Haider, a senior on the boys team, is looking forward to the heightened competition for spots in the lineup that comes from the Red Eddies’ increased depth. He also said that the new courts have brought more attention to tennis.

“I feel like tennis isn’t a very big sport around here, and having the courts definitely brought some attention to that. It doubled our team size,” Haider said.

Condit said another benefit of the courts is the student-athletes now have the opportunity to do other after-school activities.

“There’s a lot of overlap in our tennis team with drama,” Condit said. “So they can just go right up to practice and don’t have to worry about getting rides, so there can be a lot more overlap.”

The courts are located behind the still-in-progress baseball and softball fields, which are slated to be ready next spring. The Edward Little baseball and softball teams will again play their home games at Central Maine Community College this season.

The Mountain Valley baseball team will return to Hosmer Field after flooding in December 2023 made it unplayable for the 2024 season. The softball team will return to the field across the street, which was also affected by the flood.