The Oak Harbor High School tennis team is short on experience but high in athleticism, according to head coach Horace Mells.

The Wildcats return only five letter winners: seniors Eric Berner and Ben Har-rison, juniors Will Southard and Cameron Bester, and freshman Harrison Miller.

Of the three, Berner, Harrison and Southard were consistent members of doubles competition in 2010; all of the Wildcats’ top singles players from last fall graduated.

Other key returnees, according to Mells, are juniors Sean Kelley and David Kusnick and sophomores Jacob Nelson and Antonio Unpingco. Top newcomers include freshmen Tom Dale and Carter Saar.

Mells said, “Our team, along with Marysville-Getchell, will have the least amount of varsity tennis experience in our league. Our work is definitely cut out for us. We will continue to work hard to improve our skills.”

Mells added, “The majority of our players are good athletes with limited tennis skills and experience. We plan to accelerate the learning process and use our athletic abilities as our team’s strong point during match play.”

The coach’s goals are for the team to increase its competitiveness from match to match: “I expect for all players to improve their skills and experience at a much faster rate than our opponents.”

Oak Harbor heads to Marysville-Getchell Tuesday, Sept. 6, at 3:45 p.m. for the season opener; two days later the Wildcats host Mountlake Terrace at 3:45.