It's the nature of high school sports: Sometimes, it's time to start over.

Such is the case for the Mars and Grove City girls tennis teams, which reached the playoffs in their respective districts during the 2012 campaign.

The Planets lost 10 of their top 11 girls to graduation, while the Eagles will look to replace six of seven starters from a season ago.

Mars reached the second round of the WPIAL team playoffs for the second consecutive season in 2012. Despite the heavy loss of experience, 14th-year coach Mark Varlotta believes his team is prepared.

“They understand how competitive our section is and have welcomed the challenge that it presents,” said Varlotta.

Grove City coach Jared Henshaw has liked the demeanor of his new-look team, as well.

“Looking at practice, there's a lot of potential,” said Henshaw. “I think we can have a good season, but there's a lot of tough competition.”

Knoch is also hitting the reset button this season, but instead of different personnel, the Knights will have a new coach.

Nancy Conlon takes over for Kenny Nieser, who is now coaching at Oakland Catholic.

Conlon has played competitive tennis for the past 15 years and has been involved with Knoch as a parent for six years.

“I have a passion for the game,” said Conlon. “I've been enjoying every minute of it.”

The first-year coach is being assisted by her daughter, Katie Conlon, who enjoyed a strong tennis career with the Knights before graduating in 2011.

“Katie played with some of these girls. It's been a natural bond between them as far as communicating and teaching,” said Nancy Conlon. “It's a great asset having her here.”

Seneca Valley went 8-11 last season, but coach Eric Grove hopes his Raiders can get over the hump as an above-.500 team and possibly contend for the playoffs.

Strong competition in practice figures to help the Raiders improve throughout the season.

“When I did tryouts, I had no idea who would come out on top,” Grove admitted.

Jane Vandrak, Allie Head and Melissa Karidis ended up with the top three spots.

“Jane plays hard; she plays like a champion,” said Grove. “Allie plays great tennis and Melissa is a perfect fit for No. 3 singles.”

Following are preview capsules for the Buter County area girls tennis teams:

Butler

Coach: Alisa Green, 12th season

Last year: N/A

Singles: 1-Zoey McCafferty (Sr.), 2-Gretchen Wilson (Jr.), 3-Emma Brestensky (So.)

Doubles: Olivia Girdano (So.), Maggie Moses (Fr.), Tessa Klotz (So.)

Coach's comment: “We have a very small team, but it's solid.”

Grove City

Coach: Jared Henshaw, third season

Last year: Region co-champions, District 10 team playoff qualifier

Singles: 1-Claire Casalnova (Fr.), 2-Katie Kosick (So.), 3-Morgan McCommon (Fr.)

Doubles: 1-Molly Somora (Jr.) and Maddie Jazwinski (Sr.), 2-Lauren Steele (So.) and Emily Krofcheck (Jr.)

Coach's comment: “I have high hopes. It will be nice to see them grow and I'm looking forward to another good year. It's a good group of girls and they're a lot of fun.”

Knoch

Coach: Nancy Conlon, first season

Last year: Winless

Singles: 1-Patricia Pizaronas (Sr.), 2-Alice Gordon (Jr.), 3-Molly Conlon (So.)

Doubles: 1-Hannah Pfeifer (Sr.) and Melissa Stearns (Sr.), 2-Catherine Wymer (So.) and Brooke Etzel (Jr.)

Coach's comment: “We play in a very competitive section. Every point and every game counts. We understand realistically the competition we're up against; we can take advantage of that and learn from it.”

Mars

Coach: Mark Varlotta, 14th season

Last year: 14-5 overall; advanced to second round of WPIAL playoffs

Singles: 1-Amber Carlin (Sr.), 2-Erica Raymundo (Sr.), Alyssa Green (Sr.)

Doubles: 1-Maddy Brake (Jr.) and Liz Paras (Jr.), 2-Lizzie Austin (So.) and Emily Paras (So.) or Megan McLaughlin (So.) and Hope Berneberg (So.)

Coach's comment: “All starters are new to the varsity team this year. I'm hoping that all the girls comfortably settle into their spots and progressively become better as the year goes on.”

Seneca Valley

Coach: Eric Grove, fifth season

Last year: 8-11

Singles: 1-Jane Vandrak (Sr.), 2-Allie Head (So.), 3-Melissa Karidis (Jr.)

Doubles: 1-Allie Grence (Jr.) and Alissa Hill (Sr.), 2-Savanna Grinder (Sr.) and Victoria Zulick (Sr.)

Coach's comment: “We have a great group of girls. They all have positive attitudes and they all work really hard. It's going to be an exciting year.”