POULSBO — Tennis is considered a highly individual sport, where the only place “team” matters is in reference to a doubles tandem.

Not so for the North Kitsap girls’ squad.

The Vikings deploy a strategy of a different sort: the team’s depth has given head coach Trish Olson a number of options with regard to forming a line-up. And North Kitsap’s goals aren’t necessarily aimed at individual success, as with most high school squads. Rather, its ambitions lie in using that depth for overall team success.

“They’ve always been so close that it allows me to move them around,” Olson said. “It’s a versatile thing to have.”

Typically, high school squads have a few players who, down the stretch, make individual runs toward districts and state. The Vikings, however, are gunning for a team championship.

“I think we have a shot at the Bridge Division title this year,” Olson said. “If we stay healthy, we really have a shot.”

The team has almost 40 players out, with a large contingent of younger players. And the returning varsity for the Vikings are players Kearney Bangs, Kathryn Doorey, Erin Gallagher, Meagan Grandall, Emili Kishi, Renee McDougall, Katie Oost and Kathleen Teefy.

“We’ve got an exciting and talented group,” Olson said. “And there’s a lot of freshman out, who are just in time to reload the guns for next year.”

The players seem confident as well.

“I think we can win league,” said Grandall, who is one of the team’s two captains this year with Oost. “I know that we’re really close. Plus, we really want to get our names on the (gymnasium) wall.”

Last season, a Bridge title was narrowly averted. But that doesn’t mean the team was disappointed: the Vikings went 58-26 in match play over the course of the season and cruised to a 7-4 overall record, going 5-2 in league. The players contributed the record to how well they complement each other on the court.

“We know so much about each other and know what our strengths are,” Teefy said.

Eight players carry the varsity load each match, with two singles and three doubles in action. That puts a lot of emphasis on forming solid doubles teams, but the team’s composition lends itself to that, the players agreed.

“Our strength is in doubles,” Gallagher said. “That’s where you win tennis matches. And our top eight are really well-rounded players.”

Many of the doubles players enjoyed strong records, most notably was the team’s voted most improved player, Bangs, who went 10-1 in play last year.

The Vikings’ No. 1 singles player much of last year, Oost, also returns and will likely repeat that spot.

“I’m really looking forward to the rivalries and competitive matches,” Oost said.

Oost went 4-5 last year in singles a year ago and has been working hard in the off-season at Bainbridge Racquet Club, she said. But she, too, acknowledges that the team’s depth could be unmatchable in league play.

“Even our third doubles is outstanding,” Oost said.