BOURBON – To hear him tell it, Triton tennis player Keygan Mosier became a doubles player for decidedly unglamorous reasons.

Early in his career, he simply couldn’t quite keep it inside the singles sidelines, so head coach Allen Peckham decided to try him in the Trojans’ doubles lineup. Doubles play has been a perfect fit for Mosier ever since, and he’s ready to start his senior season at one doubs as Triton jumps into 2017 tonight.

“It’s just a lot easier for me. I tried singles, and I kept hitting it into the outer thing so (Peckham) put me in doubles,” explained Mosier. “I started going great from there.”

If Mosier’s beginnings as a doubles player were unglamorous, the reasons he excels at his position are two-fold.

Tall, long-limbed and solidly-built, Mosier can generate plenty of power and downhill force on the ball. But he also combines that strength and size with good reaction speed at the net, making him pretty much the prototype for a doubles player.

“When his serve is on, he’s a powerful server. He could probably ace some pros when he gets it in — he just probably has that much power and whip on it,” said Peckham. “When he’s on his serve he’s just hard to beat. He just has good power. He’s a strong guy, and his hand reaction at the net is actually really decent too. He has good hand reaction.”

As a four-year varsity player, Mosier is poised for a standout senior season. It definitely doesn’t hurt that he’ll be pairing a second straight year with doubles partner Chase Butler, either.

“I think it’s very important to have such a good relationship with your partner so you know how they play, what they can do and how to go from there,” Moiser said.

Mosier is the lone senior on a young Triton team, which, despite its youth, has high hopes for the season. As such, the fourth-year varsity player has become a de facto assistant coach of sorts, helping instruct and encourage his teammates and to make sure they’re where they’re supposed to be at each practice. It’s a role he takes seriously, says Peckham.

“At the beginning of all practices he’s in charge of making sure everybody gets their stretches in and everybody is lined up to do the runs and little jogs. He’s been taking leadership for that. Throughout the practice he’ll encourage other guys. He’s trying to step up and be the team leader,” said the Triton tennis coach.

The Trojans are a small team in 2017 — there are just 10 players in this year’s lineup — so they’ll need to stay healthy in order to have the kind of season they hope for. With only one senior in Mosier, they’re an overwhelmingly young team, too. But Mosier and Peckham have high hopes for their team after a 2016 season in which the squad, which featured four first-year players, wound up finishing at a respectable 8-10. With seven players back this year — Carter Kuntz at one singles, either Trevor Miller or Gavin Greer at two singles, Mosier and Butler at one doubles and Tyler Heckaman and Jared Bules at two doubles— as well as a promising freshman in John Gardner at three singles, the team should be that much better this fall.

“Things have been going really good. Probably we’ve gotten a lot better since last year,” Mosier said. “I think we’re ready for this season.”

Triton has its sights set on a Hoosier North Athletic Conference championship, but to earn that title, it’ll have to knock off defending champ Knox. One of the reasons the Trojans are feeling so good about their prospects in the small school conference this season is the fact that, while they have most of their lineup back, Knox loses four or its top seven from last season.

“Some schools, they lost some of their better players so that’s the reason why I feel like maybe we gained a little bit on them,” said Peckham. “Our conference, Knox won it last year. They lost their two and three singles and one off of each of their doubles and then their coach is resigned so I’m not too sure what they’re expecting, but that could open up the gate for us.”

Triton won’t have to wait long for a rematch with Knox as the Trojans are scheduled to face the Redskins on Wednesday. First comes a match with sectional-rival John Glenn, however, and after the Knox meeting, Triton will face Rochester on Thursday. A short layover on Friday leads into a four-team team tournament at Mishawaka Marian on Saturday, where the Trojans are guaranteed two matches. It’s a fast start to the season, but it should tell Triton where it’s at in a hurry.

“It’s like one-fourth of our season is in the first week; we have 22 matches, so that’s almost like one-fourth,” Peckham said. “Usually our first week is a good indicator of where we might be at. Realistically, if we’re 3-2, that’d be great. Five-oh would be perfect, but I think 3-2 would be really realistic. I think Rochester is solid and then if we do play Marian, they’re solid, but the other three schools that we play I think are very beatable.”

Mosier, for one, is feeling confident.

“I think it’ll be tough getting right into things, three games in a row and then two on Saturday, but I think we’ll be fine,” he said. “I think we’ll have a good five matches.”