FAIRMONT — The Fairmont Cardinals girls tennis team lined up for its group photo on Wednesday and the number of players was noticeably larger than it has been in many years.

With having only one senior graduate from last fall’s lineup — No. 1 singles player Lauren Carlson — and an abundance of underclassmen, the Cardinals have about 40 players on the team.

“I think what it does is that it shows where the program is going,” Fairmont head coach Eric Johnson said about the rise in numbers. “We’re doing well and people want to join because they’re having fun and getting better. That’s a very good thing.

“I think the more bodies you get … the more diversity you have in talent that you can use.”

By having those numbers, many of whom are returning, it allowed the team to get further along than in past years.

“I don’t have to do certain drills that I would normally have to do because we’re (already) there,” Johnson added.

Among some of the returners are junior Sydney Hainy and eighth-grader Claire Nemmers, who played the second and fourth singles, respectively, last year. Nemmers provided Fairmont with its lone match win in a Section 3A team quarterfinal loss to St. James Area. The Cardinals finished 4-14 on the year.

This season, Nemmers and Hainy played for the No. 1 singles spot during the intersquad tournament on Wednesday.

Hainy won the match to earn the top spot and also serves as one of this year’s captains. Other captains include Brittany Bass and Holly Petrowiak.

“It’s been a very interesting couple days of practice. We’ve got some younger girls and some older girls and they’re all in the mix,” Johnson said. “We really don’t know where things are going to shake out yet.”

The mix of older and younger people is especially nice when the whole team has a fair amount of talent.

“This team has a ton of potential, but right now it’s just potential. We’ve got work to do,” Johnson said. “Right now, we know we’ve got a long way to go, but we feel like we’re better than we were last year already.”

The main focus for the team is to continue improving and be well-equipped by the postseason.

“I really do just focus on where we are at the end of the season, are we moving forward every day. If we can keep moving forward every day and getting better, then I’m happy,” Johnson said.

The Cardinals also welcome Jill Paris to their coaching staff. Paris is a former Fairmont varsity tennis player and a “very good addition for us,” Johnson said.

Paris will make her assistant coaching debut on Friday as the Cardinals travel to the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis — home of the state tournament — for a 10 a.m. triangular against Minneapolis Washburn and Osseo.

“We’re very excited to have an early match like this to do some experimenting and get our feet wet,” Johnson said. “We’ve got a lot of questions to answer.”

Fairmont then travels to Maple River on Tuesday and St. James next Friday before its first home meet of the season on Aug. 28 against United South Central. Less than half of the Cardinals’ meets this season are at home, but the team isn’t bothered by the road-heavy schedule.

“We don’t mind. We’ll do what we need to do to get competition, play good people and get better,” Johnson said.