In high school team tennis, success in the middle and bottom of the lineup can make a huge difference. Upsets can happen even if a team loses its top two singles matches, if it is able to rally in the third singles and two doubles matches.

Just ask Monmouth.

Last spring, Monmouth pulled off that feat, beating top-ranked Dirigo as the No. 4 seed in the Western Maine Class C tournament.

The Mustangs, who eventually lost to Waynflete in the regional finals, return five of seven starters from last year’s team, including juniors Noah Bosworth and Morgan Bergeron.

Meanwhile, at Gardiner, the Tigers enter their last season of Class A competition a bit stronger thanks to the addition of junior transfer Jared Hornecker.

From Texas, Hornecker will challenge Gardiner’s Dan Paradee for the No. 1 singles spot. Last spring, Paradee lost in the preliminary round of the singles state tournament.

“He’s going to play No. 1 singles to start the season and I’m going to try and beat him,” Paradee said.

“It definitely makes us a lot stronger as a team. Now I get to play the other team’s No. 2 player.”

A number of teams have seen a significant rise in numbers.

Cony High School is the perfect example.

“Five years ago, the program was nearly dead,” said Cony coach Tom Hinds, who enters his 20th season of coaching in the area. “This year, I’ve got 31 kids and a full-fledged JV team.”

Cony’s only senior is Calvin Forbes, who returns at No. 1 singles.

Mt. Blue, meanwhile, has 35 boys out this season in just its third season of organized tennis. The challenge is getting all of those athletes playing time with just two courts.

The Cougars do not have a senior on their roster and will be led by a group of four solid juniors — Sean Paul, Harris Roberts, Matt St. John and Nick Wilkins — as well as exchange student Avaro Vain from Spain.

Winthrop will join Monmouth as one of the top teams in the Mountain Valley Conference. The Ramblers are led by sophomore Adam St. Pierre.

“I would like to see Adam push to make the Round of 40 singles competition this year,” Winthrop coach Lou Gingras said.

Sophomore Evan Arbour and freshman Danny Miles will compete for the Ramblers two other singles slots.

In Waterville, depth will be a problem. The Purple Panthers graduated five seniors from last year’s team that went 12-0 in the regular season before being upset by No. 7 Ellsworth in the Eastern Class B quarterfinals.

Seniors Charlie Boyle, Nathan Breton and Ashton White will provide some stability in the top three singles spots for coach Rich Filteau’s team.

“I would say it is a transition year,” Filteau said.

At Winslow, coach David Deas lost most of his team to graduation. The Black Raiders do have good numbers with 18 players on the roster.

Chris King’s goal in his first season coaching the Skowhegan Indians is to make the playoffs. The success of four returning seniors — Ivan Ilinsky, Alex Downing, Jordan Clark, Ben Quirion — will go a long way in determining the team’s success.

Messalonskee graduated seven seniors but returns No. 1 singles player Spencer Churchill and has a good group of newcomers.

Jeff Fowler has taken over at Hall-Dale and does not have a senior on the roster. Freshman Kevin Zembroski has shown a lot of promise in practices this spring.