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BOURBON – As the clock ticked Wednesday afternoon, it was a wonder if Triton would actually start its girls tennis season. The anticipated home opener with Peru was still on, but after an hour had passed, still no Peru sighting on campus.

As the Tigers finally pulled into the parking lot just after 6:10 p.m., a victim to a readjusted school day schedule and some bumpy navigation, the season would finally commence. And not a minute too soon for Peru, which played into the sunset and claimed a 5-0 victory at Triton. The meeting was the first-ever between the two schools.

Triton, which were on the courts warming up off and on for over an hour awaiting Peru’s arrival, didn’t seem to get going as sharply as it should have with Peru fresh off the long bus ride. Losing all first sets, the Lady Trojans only had one court score more than one game.

In the two singles match, Shayla May had serve with the game even against Adri Ward, but the Triton sophomore lost serve and then fell victim to unforced errors to drop the set 7-5. Ward would then post a 6-3 victory in the second game.

Triton’s only game win came at one singles, where Kaelyn Mason recovered from a very wobbly start at 6-0 to tie the match after a 6-3 second set. Seeming to gain confidence in her return game, Mason’s attacks had Madison Deniston lobbing shots both into the net and deep in an effort to counter Mason’s aggressive play.

That style worked early for Mason in the third set, jumping up a game, but Deniston proved her worth as the top singles player for Peru by rallying for a 6-3 final set. As the sun set under the cover of Bourbon’s western sprawl aligning the tennis complex, Triton coach Al Peckham was pleased with what he saw.

“Kaelyn keeps the ball moving, and that a lot of times will get into the opposing mind,” Peckham said. “The longer the match goes, the better she gets. I remember a lot last year, the more they played, the more Kaelyn got going and her opponents would start to make more errors. I saw that again today. Tennis is all about momentum, and Kaelyn keeps playing. She did a good job sticking with her game today.”

Anna Boyer made relatively quick work of Cassie Irons at three singles, winning 6-1, 6-2 while the pairing of Grace Comerford and Mallory Struble were very efficient in a love-love result over Michal Scherer-Berry and Sierra Sauers on the two doubles court.

At one doubles, Kyle Eckerley and Breanna Mansique rolled in the first set, 6-1, then weathered home a 6-4 clincher against Holly Stogsdill and Carrie Slabaugh. The two Triton seniors looked to follow a similar path as Mason, with the slow start gradually building to a more offensive finish.

“With us moving from district one to district three, I wanted to get us a match against someone in district three that would help us get some exposure,” Peckham said. “The girls were asking about Peru, ‘how good are they?’ I didn’t tell them they are ranked fifth in the third district. I thought all things considered, we played really well with them. Both the singles and doubles played strong. We handled our own.”

Peru made it a clean sweep, winning both scored JV matches. Joanna Andrews beat Brianna Vuitonet 8-1 and Meredith Richdros blanked Rainey Sinkey 8-0 in the pair of pro set courts.

Triton (0-1) will take a few days off for training before gearing up for a matchup Monday at rival Knox. Peckham, who cited last year’s meeting with Knox as one of the more memorable of the season, is eager to see how the 2014 version will shape up.

“We’re just going to get better,” Peckham said. “Last year in our first match against Knox, we played well. But as the season went, we got stronger, and when we faced Knox in the tournament, we were just as good as they were. It’s just a daily improvement, a good start to get everybody going. I’m hoping with Knox coming up next week that this match gets us ready.”