The Seahawks squinted in the afternoon sun and shivered in the evening cold.

But after its first-ever home match, Seabury Academy’s tennis squad received a crash course in the competitive nature of Kansas State High School Athletics Assn. play, losing Monday to Shawnee Maranatha, 9-4, at Seabury.

“It’s nerves,” Seabury coach Marcus Heckman said. “It’s a battle of nerves, and that was kind of introduced to us today.”

Part of those nerves were shared by Heckman, who coached Seabury club tennis for three years. Heckman also is the Seahawks’ boys basketball coach.

“I love teaching basketball, but I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time,” Heckman said. “I’ve been like a little kid all day looking forward to getting to run a tennis meet.”

The Seahawks’ first home meet originally was scheduled for Friday against Kansas City (Mo.) Lincoln Prep.

The match, however, was moved to Thursday and to Lincoln Prep, where Seabury won, 11-1.

On Monday, Maranatha’s Eagles proved to be an equally talented — and more experienced — breed of bird, winning singles, 6-3, and doubles, 4-1. In fact, the only Seahawks to win were freshman Charlie Moffett and junior Grayson Dillon, who each won a singles match and combined for two doubles victories.

“Our kids who lost those nine matches, they’re going to learn from those losses, I think, than the ones who won the four,” Heckman said. “Out of those nine losses, most of them were close and competitive.”

Seabury Academy's Brooke Sutherland returns a serve against Shawnee Maranatha. The Seahawks lost the dual, 9-4, Monday at Seabury.

Heckman said Monday’s match was just “a duel in April” and not the postseason, but he already had begun thinking about state regionals — to be held May 16 at Maranatha.

That’s where the “extra varsity” matches come into play. On Monday, the doubles teams of Moffett and Dillon and Max Cannon and Allen Park played an additional match, as did Brooke Sutherland and Ashley Woolsey, a transfer from Lawrence High, in singles.

Under KSHSAA rules, only six players can go to regionals, and no player can play both singles and doubles. Such a law means Seabury’s No. 1 seeded player in singles, Moffett, and the No. 3 singles player, Dillon, can’t go for both.

“It’s a lot of fun, and we have a great shot (at state),” Dillon said, “so it doesn’t bother me not to play in singles.”

Said Moffett about playing with Dillon: “It’s awesome. I’ve known (Grayson) since I was in kindergarten. Our families are best friends, and we have a real good chemistry.”

The two displayed an evident synergy on the court, ripping serves and painting the corners with drop shots to earn 8-2 and 8-4 decisions in doubles.

Seabury Academy's Charlie Moffett returns a shot against Shawnee Maranatha. The Seahawks lost their first-ever home match, 9-4, Monday at Seabury.

The team has been practicing for four weeks now, but Moffett, Sutherland and Woolsey just started practicing with Seabury a little over a week ago after their private lessons ended.

“We just got to get more focused,” Moffett said.

And seasoned, which is why Heckman won’t take Monday’s loss to heart.

“It’s experience, and experience is irreplaceable,” Heckman said. “There’s nothing you can do in practice to simulate our first home meet. The kids were nervous, and they didn’t play as loose as they did last Thursday, but that’s where we have to start from.”

Seabury (1-1 in duals) will travel Thursday to Kansas City Barstow.