The Fort Walton Beach High School girls tennis team is one match away from doing something few programs in the area can claim — going an entire regular season without a loss. Again.

• The Vikings enter today’s home match against Destin at 12-0 overall and 7-0 in district play. A Feb. 26 road match at Bay was halted by rain after Fort Walton Beach had won three of the first three matches played, but the team did not reach the four wins required for the result to count officially.

Across the lineup, Fort Walton Beach players have compiled a 79-18 individual match record this spring, and Head Coach Pat Markey said the foundation for this year’s run was built well before the season started.

“I actually felt it since last year,” Markey said. “We only graduated one senior so I knew we were going to be strong — stronger again this year.”

The Vikings won their first region title in 26 years last spring and advanced to the state tournament. Nearly every player from that roster returned, and several came back better than before.

Junior Penelope Gordon, who played the No. 2 singles spot last season, put in 20 hours a week of work during the offseason and earned the No. 1 position in challenge matches this fall. Senior Reese Armstrong, last year’s No. 1, has moved into the No. 2 spot, and the two have formed a dominant No. 1 doubles pairing.

•  “They just have meshed really well,” Markey said.

Seniors Katie Eubanks and Gabriella (Gigi) Biro also returned in the best shape of their four-year careers, and Markey said their doubles play has reached a new level.

“They just didn’t get that offseason let-down,” Markey said. “They did other things. They kept busy and they came back in better shape. They’re both playing better, especially in doubles. Right now they’re playing the best they’ve ever played in doubles.”

Markey said that depth in doubles has been a key factor for the Vikings.

“Oftentimes that’s how you win a match with the better teams — you might split it with the singles, but if you can win both double teams, you’re going to win all the time,” he said.

That formula was tested in a 4-3 win over Rocky Bayou Christian on April 7, a match Markey called the most clutch performance he has ever seen — at any level.

Fort Walton Beach’s No. 3, 4 and 5 singles players all lost, putting the team in a difficult position. With the match tied and the outcome resting on the No. 2 doubles match, the Vikings found themselves down 0-4 in the first set and 0-3 in the second, one game from a loss. Down 40-love in that game, they were one serve away from seeing the undefeated season end.

“They got it in and came back and tied it up, won that game,” Markey said. “We played a tiebreaker and we won that, and that put us into the third set. They played a 10-point tiebreaker in the third set, and we ended up winning. It was probably the most clutch performance I’ve ever seen. I’m talking about college, high school — anywhere.”

• “The girls all of a sudden put it into second gear,” he added. “It was just strong faith in themselves that they could pull it off.”

The nine-player roster features four seniors in Mary Grace Walker, Eubanks, Armstrong and Biro, two juniors in Gordon and Nara Kim, and three sophomores in Kate Rice, Lucy Walker and Olivia Widner. Each has played a role in the team’s success, whether in the starting lineup or pushing starters in practice every day.

Lucy Walker, Mary Grace’s younger sister, has stepped into the lineup at the No. 4 and 5 spots multiple times this year and won her matches, positioning herself for a starting role next season. Kim, also a junior, is working on her game to give the program added depth heading into next year.

“They’re there in every practice,” Markey said of the younger players on the roster. “They work hard.”

Many of the players have been together since well before high school.

• “They’ve been together not only since high school, but a lot of them either played with each other or against each other in middle school tennis,” Markey said. “It’s exciting for them to start out as little girls taking group tennis lessons and then moving on to middle school and then going from there.”

Markey didn’t have to be here for any of it — at least not full-time.

He spent 30 years as a tennis teaching pro and recreation director before coaching at Fort Walton Beach. For his first three years with the program, he was still working off campus, rushing from his job in Destin to make it to practice. But as the program grew, so did his desire to be closer to it.

His wife, a longtime teacher who previously worked at Fort Walton Beach High School and now teaches at Destin Middle School, would come home with stories about her students… the funny moments, the daily interactions, the relationships that come with being in a school building every day. Those stories stuck with Markey.

“I just thought, this would be cool if I could spend the whole day with the kids instead of just rushing from work in Destin over to coach,” Markey said. “It just gave you a better feel for dealing with teenagers.”

So he approached then-Principal John Spolski about coming on full-time as a teacher. He was told he didn’t have the right degree, but if he could test into it, there was a spot for him. He passed the exam, was hired, and later completed 15 additional college credits in his field to stay on permanently.

That was seven years ago, and Markey said being on campus every day has changed the program.

• “A lot of the kids know who Coach Markey is,” he said. “And then there’s just simple things — when you have to have a meeting, you don’t have to call and get permission to use a classroom. Fundraisers and things like that, I can keep my finger on the pulse, because it costs a lot of money to run a tennis program.”

With the 2A District 1 tournament set for April 15-16 at Fort Walton Beach Tennis Center, Markey said the Vikings’ dominant district record has positioned them for top seeds across every category.

“If you can get a top one or two seed, you’ll be in the finals in every single division,” Markey said. “And we’re going to have that — in every single category, we’re going to have either a one or a two seed. That’s phenomenal.”

As for his message heading into the postseason?

“The old Bachman-Turner Overdrive song — takin’ care of business,” Markey said with a laugh. “If we go in there and take care of business, there’s no reason that we should lose. Just hold your head up. If we take care of business, things will work out for us.”