Turlock tennis head coach Linda Bejaran said the girls were a bit nervous going into their opening league game on Tuesday, but it wasn’t apparent as most of her players finished with confidence — and a 7-2 victory over a visiting Atwater team.

Lauren Carlson was the first to finish her match, winning straight sets of 6-1, 6-1 against her Atwater opponent.

 “Her serve was on fire,” Bejaran said. “We’ve been practicing our serve every day. That’s one thing our team is trying to do a better job at is not losing because we can’t get our serves in. [Lauren] was very consistent today.”

Top ranked singles player Mila Johns lost her first set 3-6, but made a turnaround and won her match scoring sets of 6-3 and 7-5.

 “I think the first set she was nervous a little bit,” Bejaran said. “In the second set she started to relax. I told her to keep moving [her] feet, you could tell by her body language she was a little more relaxed and I think that allowed her to start hitting her shots.”

Singles match winners Courtnie Chan and Rebekka Cripe also helped in bringing their team to victory.

 “I’m very proud of the way they’re playing,” Bejaran said of her team. “A lot of the things we’ve been practicing I’m seeing them incorporate in their play, so that makes us feel good as coaches.”

The Bulldogs play their next match in Merced this Thursday.