In recent years, Pine Creek had plenty of support at the Class 5A state girls’ tennis tournament. Just not many participants to get that support.

Not so this year.

A revamped and vastly improved Eagles team will have six entries playing in the state meet, which runs Thursday-Saturday at Gates Tennis Center in Denver.

In 2015, only Ally Bellas at No. 1 singles got through regionals. It was the same story in 2013, when it was top singles player Nicole Kalhorn but no one else.

“It’s been a number of years since we got that many to state,” said Pine Creek coach Dave Lehman, the coach since 2005, two years after taking over the boys’ program. “We had a good run between 2006-08, and we finished second in 5A (in 2007). This team isn’t as strong as those, but the character is what I love. They work hard and fight hard, but they’re having fun, too. That’s the most important part.”

The 4A tournament, also Thursday through Saturday, takes place at Pueblo City Park, and features seven-time defending champion Cheyenne Mountain, which won regional championships in all seven positions. The Indians should get a stern test from Pueblo West, which also swept regional play, and Kent Denver, last year’s runner-up that boasts six regional champions.

And this year, Pine Creek can claim a champion after its No. 2 doubles team of Carly Matheson and Melissa Shambach rallied from a first-set loss in a tiebreaker to win the 5A Region 4 title last week in Fort Collins.

That left Lehman scratching his head, wondering the last time that happened.

“Probably around 2009 was the last time we’re going into state with a regional champion,” Lehman said. “It’s a great team of two seniors, and I was happy with their performance, especially fighting back from losing the first set.”

Not too shabby since neither played meaningful tennis at all last season.

Matheson was forced to sit out, ineligible after transferring from Discovery Canyon via the College Pathways program. And Shambach was recuperating from a torn knee ligament suffered playing club volleyball.

“It’s been fun for both of us since we didn’t get to play last year, for one last chance to give it our all,” Shambach said after Tuesday’s rain-shortened practice.

“We’ve known each other since the seventh grade, but this is our first year as partners. We’re excited to play together, and to get to state is amazing. That’s been one of our hopes since we started playing tennis.”

Their additions to the squad, along with the infusion of freshman talent, sent ripples through the team during preseason tryouts. When things finally settled, only one spot – Bellas at No. 1 singles – remained the same from the previous season.

“We had a lot of new players in new positions, and it’s completely different than last year,” Lehman said. “Once we got our roster set, we’ve been solid. We’ve had new people come in and had a couple of young kids play better this year than last year. It came out different than I thought it would.”