Talk about tough competition.

The Mars boys tennis team reached the WPIAL finals and state semifinals last spring and returns its entire starting lineup.

And no one is guaranteed a starting position entering this season.

“Players improve from year to year,” third-year Planets coach Chris Knauff said. “We've got a few other players who could rotate into the lineup and there's a new group of freshmen coming up.

“Absolutely, some of our established players could be pushed.”

The Planets lost only four matches all of last year. Three of those defeats — including the WPIAL Finals — were at the hands of Sewickley Academy. The other was to Lancaster County Day School in the state tournament.

But Mars will not be concerning itself with those teams this spring.

“We're moving up to Class AAA this year, so we have a whole new set of opponents to worry about,” Knauff said.

Mars joins a section with Butler, Seneca Valley, Knoch, Pine-Richland, North Allegheny, Hampton, North Hills and Moon.

No. 1 singles player Josh Raymundo reached the WPIAL finals last season and made it to the third round of the PIAA competition as a sophomore.

“We definitely know we're in there with a bunch of good teams,” Knauff said of Mars' section. “This is going to be a fun year.”

Here is a look at area boys tennis this season:

Butler

Coach: Dave Hartzell, 10th year

Last Year: 7-7

Key Losses: A.J. May, No. 1 singles, now playing at Westminster; Ethan Turner, No. 2 doubles

Projected Singles: No. 1-Devin Fitz (junior), No. 2-Henry May (senior), No. 3-Cam Sedwick (junior)

Projected Doubles: No. 1-Troy Bell (senior) and Matt McMaster (freshman), No. 2-Nick Condon (freshman) and Tony Santillo (senior)

Hartzell says: “I think we have a solid team that should be competitive with the other teams in our league. Devin seems to be playing better and better. We have a strong class of freshmen, too.”

Grove City

Coach: Shawn Sowers, eighth year

Last Year: 10-4

Key Loss: Evan Lowers

Projected Singles: No. 1-Chris Adams (senior), No. 2 or 3-Jacob Shilling (senior) and Tanner McKnight (junior)

Projected Doubles: Unknown

Sowers says: “We've got 15 players on the team, including six freshmen and five underclassmen in their first year. I don't know how the lineup will shake out yet. Ryan Motta is a senior who played as a freshman, but did not play the past two years. Play the right way, do the right things — We're more concerned with the process this year than the results.”

Knoch

Coach: Brian Miklavic, first year

Last Year: Not available

Key Losses: Not available

Projected Singles: No. 1-Benjamin Andrews (senior), No. 2-Daniel Carns (junior), No. 3-Mark Sotomayor (junior)

Projected Doubles: No. 1-Robert Hawranko (junior) and Mitch Keller (junior), No. 2-Kenny Danits (senior) and Martin Stasinka (senior)

Miklavic says: “We have a lot of younger players this year. I'm focusing on the future, bringing the younger kids along and getting the program established. This is a building year and we hope to keep improving as the year goes on.”

Mars

Coach: Chris Knauff, third year

Last Year: Lost to Sewickley Academy in WPIAL finals

Key Losses: None

Projected Singles: No. 1-Josh Raymundo (junior), No. 2-Aaron Gruber (junior), No. 3-Tim Hunt (senior)

Projected Doubles: No. 1-Alex Gruber (junior) and Noah Raymundo (sophomore), No. 2-Noah Hudac (senior)-Drew Ellis (sophomore)

Knauff says: “I've coached a lot of successful teams at Mars over the last nine years. The sports here do feed off of each other. We want to make the playoffs, for sure. That's our bench-mark.”

Seneca Valley

Coach: Eric Grove, 16th year

Last Year: 5-12

Key Losses: None

Projected Singles: No. 1-Patrick O'Connor (senior), No. 2-Michael Garczynski (senior), No. 3-Eric Abbott (senior)

Projected Doubles: No. 1-Alex Garczynski (sophomore) and Jake Yankel (sophomore), No. 2-Sean Yanez (junior) and Adam Johanknecht (senior)

Grove says: “I've had teams before that didn't necessarily have the talent, but had the drive. Last year's team had good talent, but didn't have the drive. It was the worst year I had as a coach since my first year. This year, we're out to rectify that. You need hard work to get the results.”