Allen said she knows what the team is capable of.
"I don't want to jinx myself, but I am pretty excited about the season," she said. "We have a really good opportunity with this team. It's the strongest one I have had in a long time."
Entering her 20th season as the head coach of the girls' squad at MHS, Allen said what makes this group special is that it has no shortage of depth.
The Indians' other returning letterwinners include seniors Kara James, Maree Lehman, Leah Moulds, Elly Sedlacek, Andrea Kruse and Alicia Moran, juniors Karolyn Fox, Alexandra Seager and Julia Yang, and sophomores Annie Hodges and Erin Kruse.
Others who could see time this season are sophomore Lucy Liu, and freshmen Frances Jin, Madison Johnson and Kaitlin Wichman, as well as Amy Guo, Santhi Reddi and Anna Maria Samper.
It's an entire group that Allen knows can make some noise in the long run this year.
"We are poised to make a mark in the Centennial league," she said. "And I think we can in regionals."
The varsity team kicked off its season on Tuesday with a rescheduled duel against Topeka High at the City Park tennis courts in Manhattan.
The Indians used eight singles players and four doubles groups, with all but one singles player winning their matches.
Johnson, Lehman, Guo, Reddi, Samper, Sedlacek and Moulds each claimed individual victories. On the doubles 'side, teams of Samper and Reddi, James and Johnson, Guo and Lehman and Moulds and Sedlacek, all came up with wins.
Allen said she was pleased with what she saw from her group.
"I thought they did a really good job, I was very pleased," she said. "We had a couple of girls who hadn't played a varsity match before and I was pleased with how they did."
The Indians will hit the road today when the take part in the Junction City Quad this afternoon.
