MONTGOMERY — Decatur girls tennis coach Mark Christopher doesn’t like to use the word “inexperienced” to describe this year’s team.

But he relented by the end of Monday’s Class 5A state tournament at Lagoon Park.

Decatur, with no seniors and three starting freshmen, went 12-1 in the regular season and qualified for the state tournament. The team’s state tournament life, however, lies on the balance of Sarah Fite’s no. 6 singles match.

Fite is the lone Decatur player remaining and was the only player to have her match suspended Monday night.

“We talked about not settling just to make the tournament,” Christopher said. “We really wanted to come down here and compete. But we’re really happy with our team. One day doesn’t ruin the whole season.”

That day wasn’t completely bad. Still, Monday didn’t get off to a good start when the No. 1 doubles team of Mary Virginia Sherrill and Emily Suggs drew St. Paul’s team of Edie Wilson and Mary Angela Martin.

Christopher was hopeful his top doubles team could earn some points, but St. Paul’s — the Class 5A powerhouse which leads the girls’ competition by eight points over Walker — was likely the worst possible draw. St. Paul’s won 6-0, 6-0.

Decatur’s only doubles win came from the No. 3 team of freshmen Annie Suggs and Fite, which beat Greenville 6-2, 6-1.

Both No. 2 singles player Emily Suggs and No. 3 singles player Burgoyne Fite won their first-round matches.

Decatur, which has a roster of three sets of sisters — all two years apart — qualified for the state tournament for the fifth time in six years.

After graduating a number of seniors last year, Christopher was excited his team made another trip to Montgomery.

“We set goals at the beginning of the year,” Christopher said. “Last year, we graduated multiple seniors and brought in three new varsity players, which makes us inexperienced — we don’t like to use that term, but it really does. We’re in a tough area with Muscle Shoals, Russellville and Hartselle was added to our area this time, so we knew getting here was going to be tough. I couldn’t be more proud of them for making it this far.”

Decatur finished Monday in ninth place with seven points.

Meanwhile, Hartselle’s boys finished the first day in sixth place with 13 points.

Walker went undefeated Monday and leads the boys race with 42 points — five points ahead of UMS-Wright.

“I’m pleased with what they did today,” Hartselle boys coach Regina Hudson said.

“We had some good draws, and we played well. They all played hard and nobody gave up. We just met up with some teams that will be here at the very end.”

The No. 3 doubles team of Josiah Weems and Scott Dukes won its first-round match, topping Carroll 6-3, 6-1.

Hudson was pleased with her team’s performance, especially considering several byes cost her players several points.

“It seems like sometimes those byes can work against you,” she said. “I thought it worked against us some today.”

Alex Brown, Patrick Connell, Weems and Dukes all won singles matches. Weems won his second-round match as well and is the only player from Hartselle remaining in the tournament.

Hudson is especially proud of Hartselle making its third consecutive state tournament.

“Tennis is not a big thing where we are, so we’re kind of building that tradition there,” Hudson said. “It’s fabulous to be in it. We’re just excited to be here.”

The second day of the tournament begins at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday at Lagoon Park.