The Scotland varsity women’s tennis team got a taste of greatness early in their season as they squared off against Terry Sanford Monday night.

And while it was a one-sided contest that saw Terry Sanford sweep every match, Scotland head coach Jeanne Roller believes that playing a team of that caliber was necessary.

“I thought it was a good opportunity for these girls to see what good tennis is all about,” Roller said. “Terry Sanford’s top six players play year round and will likely go on to play in college as well. They are great top-to-bottom, and are most certainly one of the top five teams in North Carolina.”

The most competitive match of the night took place between Scotland’s Leslie Floyd and Trisha Slehria. Floyd was narrowly edged by Slehria in the first set 6-4 before losing the second set and match by a score of 6-0.

Other than that, Terry Sanford was utterly dominant against the Fighting Scots, yielding just six combined games to Scotland in singles competition. Terry Sanford also won their three doubles matches against Scotland 8-0, 8-1 and 8-0.

But Roller remains optimistic with the first leg of conference play starting next week. Scotland will travel to Southern Pines to take on Pinecrest Tuesday night, and then on Wednesday the Fighting Scots will host Purnell Swett at the Scotland County Tennis Center. Last season, the Fighting Scots finished second in the conference behind perennial contender Pinecrest.

Both matches are scheduled to start at 4:00 p.m.

“I don’t think we’ll see a team of Terry Sanford’s magnitude again unless we make it to the playoffs,” Roller said. “I think we’ll be very competitive in our conference this season. We usually battle with Pinecrest for first place, so we’ll find out how good we are next week.”