SENATOBIA - Since November 2021, Will Irvin has waited for this day to come.

After years of dormancy, tennis will once again hold serve at the Ranger Outdoor Complex in one week, marking the program's official return after being cut following the 2017 season. Since being hired to revive the men's and women's programs over a year ago, Irvin has recruited, signed and finalized his 2023 rosters, even giving his players a taste of competition through fall exhibition matches.

Now, the time for regular season competition has finally arrived and the excitement is indescribable for Irvin.

"It's hard to even put into words how unbelievable this is," Irvin said. "Looking back to last year, this all felt so far away and now, it's knocking on the door. There is an abundance of emotions right now and it's a non-stop emotion rush every day leading up to this. To sum it all up, it's time to play and it's going to be fun."

For Irvin, the MACCC tennis scene is nothing new. The Starkville native played at Meridian Community College during the 2016-17 seasons and earned NJCAA All-Region 23 accolades as a freshman, while helping the Eagles to a pair of bids in the NJCAA Men's Tennis championships in Plano, Texas. Additionally, Irvin also served as the Mississippi Golden Triangle Regional Director from April 2018 to May 2021, helping grow the area's youth tennis involvement.

It was during his stint in the Golden Triangle that he served as a youth tennis coach to several players, including some that went on to compete in the MACCC, laying the foundation for Irvin's breakthrough into the college coaching ranks.

Although this marks a restart for the tennis program at Northwest, Irvin isn't expecting either of his teams to take this season lightly. Although five of the six players on the Lady Rangers' roster are freshmen, all possess valuable experience from their high school and youth competitions. Grace Ann Wade (French Camp, Miss./French Camp Academy) was Irvin's first women's tennis signee and served as the No. 1 starter on the French Camp roster as a senior, also helping her team qualify for the MHSAA State Tournament.

From there, teammate Raney Peacock followed suit, along with Lewisburg product Rivers Tarsi, Pontotoc's Holly Stewart and Brookhaven Academy alumnus Amelia Anding. Most recently, Irvin also picked up Northwest volleyball standout Lia Ramos as the team's lone sophomore.

Meanwhile, the men's tennis roster contains a slew of MACCC transfers. Ian Gordon, Christopher Herron-Albert, Kaleb Parish and Samuel Turner all arrive as sophomores from East Central, while Bratton Willoughby and John Nelson arrive from Itawamba and Jones College, respectively. The remaining two members of the roster include freshman Noah Lary (Greenwood, Miss./Pillow Academy) and Pascagoula native Peter Floyd, who is also a member of the Northwest men's soccer program.

"It's really interesting when you are coaching two different teams," Irvin said, citing the structure difference in both rosters. "Looking at the women's rosters, they're all brand new freshmen and this is something that's brand new for them. They're going to be the foundation and these freshmen are coming back next season, so we're not just working for this year alone. What we do this year will also prepare them to be leaders for next year and we're building that together."

"For the men's side, you have a lot of experience," Irvin continued. "Six of these players will not be here next year. They're going to be playing somewhere at the next level. You get to embrace the challenges in two different aspects. We have really strong players on both sides and we get to watch how they either begin this ride or how they end this ride. It's going to be a fun experience."

Irvin's teams will waste no time jumping into the meat of the schedule. Only two non-conference opponents will make up this season's slate before Northwest hosts Meridian on Tuesday, February 14 in the MACCC opener, a match that will be followed by nothing but conference competition.

While that leaves little time for his teams to prepare, Irvin knows what his teams need to do to break into the order of competition throughout the conference.

"There is a clear-cut top of the conference that consists of two or three programs," Irvin said. "That is eventually where we want to be, but the only way we can get there is by breaking through the rest of our conference, which is full of teams scratching and clawing to get to the top. I think respect is a big part of this conference and respecting other coaches and other programs is a big deal. Yes, we are highly competitive and we all want to make it to the top, but you can burn every single bridge. Part of this fun ride is going to be navigating through some of these challenges and making the steps to get into this position."

While the opening season will be full of challenges and adversity, Irvin isn't selling his teams short when talking about goals.

"Our top goal is making the postseason," Irvin said. "I have no doubt in my mind that both of these teams are capable of doing that, but they have to want that. The second goal is going to the national tournament. There are automatic and at-large bids that we can receive to make it out there, and it truly is a realistic goal for us. It's all up to the team. We want to take it as far as we can and have fun. We have been training heavily and competing against each other. The biggest thing will be keeping our teams motivated to fight through adversity when it happens. We're prepared and we are ready to do this."

Blue Mountain Christian will be the opponent for the first match, which is set for 1 P.M. on Friday, February 3 in Senatobia. The next day, Northwest will hit the road for a neutral-site match in Auburn, Ala. against Coastal Alabama-South, before hosting Meridian on Valentine's Day.