SASEBO, Japan – McKinzy Best refuses to lament about what’s gone.

So what if the E.J. King no longer has the two finest girls players in Cobras tennis history, his daughters Moa and Miu, who have graduated?

“I start with what I have,” the elder Best said just as a practice was getting under way. “I don’t look behind me. And I look to make them better today than they were yesterday.”

It’s not like the Cobras’ tennis cupboard is entirely bare. The players who were listed as three, four and five in the lineup simply move up.

Players such as senior Gabrielle Velasco, one of King’s team captains, and rising sophomore Rose Johnson. “She’s talented and getting better every day,” Best said of Velasco, adding of Johnson: “She’s very promising, very coachable.”

The boys lineup gets a boost from the transfer of Taisei Shimakura from Matthew C. Perry. Freshman Jin Bergman is the younger brother of former Cobras star Kaito Bergman.

Returning to King’s lineup are Jacob Kennedy, a junior, and hard-hitting sophomore David Armstrong, the other team captain.

“He’s a solid player, coachable, eager to learn,” Best said of Armstrong. As for Kennedy, “He’s promising and doing great things. I look forward to seeing great things from him.”

DODEA-Japan tennis and volleyball got underway as early as it ever has, Aug. 20, with matches at Yokota and Nile C. Kinnick. Cross country started Saturday with a meet at Sasebo’s Isanoura Park.

Tennis

One two-time reigning Far East champion is back in the fold, junior Ryunosuke Roesch at Yokota. His sophomore brother Kotaro is back, along with senior Evan Horne and junior Evan Okamoto. Senior Giselle Pinard returns, while senior Leah Barao transfers to the Panthers from Kadena.

A new face has taken her place in Zama’s lineup: freshman Maya McElroy. Seniors Jolie Nguyen and Hannah Bolin return for the girls, while senior Kentaro Kerwin and junior Dayne Marble are back for the boys, and Kian Perez transfers in from Perry.

Perry lost quite a bit to transfer and graduation, but still has two strong veteran boys in senior Ren Spinosi and sophomore Aira Fujinuma. Three of four Samurai boys return this season.

New coach Daniel Burns feels the boys will contend, but the girls will be rebuilding. Sophomore Miah Apperson returns for the girls, but transfers out in September. Autumn Hendra moves from Kinnick back to Perry, where she played as a sophomore.

Despite losing Hendra, Kinnick’s lineup gets bolstered by a freshman, Marisol Hindie – longtime Red Devils coach Nico Hindie’s daughter. She joins sophomores Kikyo Deeter and Lisa Galloway, who return.

And what a problem to have on the boys end. Hindie has five options to choose for four spots on the Far East team – Juniors Noah and Aaden Otteson, junior Tavi Shah, senior Jamesson De Borja and junior Shobu Deeter, who played football last year but is back on the courts.

Robert D. Edgren is relatively young. Je’Shawn Spaights-Pace is the lone senior experienced veteran. Sophomores Jacob Huntington and Lanea Eda return, along with junior Christopher Alvey. Rachel Billups is back as head coach following one season as an assistant.

Volleyball

The PCS Plane brought in a bounty of goods for Kinnick’s spikers, particularly at outside hitter.

A pair of sophomores, Layla Alvarez and Adrianna Dogojo, have already contributed to the Red Devils’ three victories to open the season. They have two setters in senior Kay Kim and sophomore Phoebe Shoda and senior middle blocker Alyssa Staples.

One team that got hit hard by the PCS Plane is Perry, which lost star Nevaeh Martinez to Guam High.

But the Samurai still have enough to be competitive. Junior Brooklyn Hunter returns at middle blocker. Sophomores Gabriella Martins, Adrianna Beltre, Lily Pardue, Aniyah Burford and Alex Altig bolster a young lineup, along with freshmen Meliyah Bevett and Jezelle Beltran.

E.J. King hopes to follow a string of Far East near-misses with a long-sought title. The Cobras are a junior-heavy lot, with Aniah Little, Nylire Costs, Ai Kina, Nanami Crump and Madison Welch in the lineup, along with returning middle Mila Nishimura-Reed.

Yokota got hit hard by graduation, but it still has a solid core of returners, including senior middles Ty’Lasia Anu and Cami Cort, along with third-year setter Cocoro Jones. Developing a good core of sophomores could see the Panthers return to the Far East final four.

It could be now or never for Edgren, which is as senior-heavy as the team has been in a long time in middle hitters Summer Martinez, Elli Passey and Zevah Najera, outsides Kaleiana Alonzo and Yaira Sanden, setters Teniya Nelson and Nadiah Miller and libero Keira Marrero.

All-Far East outside hitter Kaiya Pasion returns, and three freshmen are showing promise, said David Carrano, moves up to take over the varsity from the JV he’s coached the last three years.

Zama starts over with a new coach who is not new to the game, Joanna Wyche, who has coached at Kadena and led Daegu to three Division II titles in the early 2010s. Kira Herring, a junior, is the lone varsity returner, but the Trojans have 12 freshmen who are also not new to the game, Wyche said. “They’re hungry and fearless,” she said.

Cross country

If nothing else, Zama’s cadre of cross country runners has gotten quite tall, says Trojans coach Katrina Kemper. “They’re bigger, faster and stronger,” she said. And her numbers have improved: Zama has 12 boys and eight girls out, compared to about half that last year.

The boys lineup is veteran heavy, with senior Jesus Siles joined by junior Joseph Stroud and freshman Jack Jaggi. The girls are almost entirely newcomers, save for junior Kayleigh Wiebeld.

If bloodlines mean anything, Zama does have a find in Hailey Erler, a senior whose older sister Morgan once held the Pacific cross country record when she was at Edgren. “Hailey will definitely be a runner to watch,” Kemper said of Erler, who moved in from Jacksonville, Fla.

Kinnick lost Talan Farrington to transfer and Mia Bartram to graduation, but it’s next man up for the Red Devils, as their second, third and fourth runners from last year move up.

Emmett McNamara and Caleb Mintling, each sophomores, “had great off-seasons,” coach Luke Voth said. Seniors Annabelle DuBose, Victoria Justice and Lauren Cabradilla move up for the girls.

Six of Yokota’s top seven boys runners are back, led by defending Far East D-II champion Matthew Rowland, a senior. “I expect him to be defending,” Panthers coach Danny Galvin said.

Rowland is joined by senior Vito Cabrera, who along with Rowland was “running a lot over the summer,” Galvin said. Sophomore Madeleine Frost, part of a family of athletes, returns for the girls and is showing strong promise, Galvin said.

Seniors Rosie McGrath and Jude Cutler are setting the pace for King’s runners. They’re joined by junior Nolan Grubb who “runs like a senior,” coach Mark Sewell said. Sophomore Wyatt Baca transfers in from Guam High and freshman Maximus Cutler joins his brother in the lineup.

Youngsters Ian Nguyen, a sophomore, and freshmen Mirai Bright and Angelica Becerril-Uetani also join the Cobras.

Perry returns Far East D-II girls champion Hannah Jernigan, a senior, along with senior Aaron Lopez; Donald Anderson takes over for longtime coach Brad Cramer.

Sophomores Peacy Roces and Julia Mitchell have trained hard over the summer and senior Gabe Valle tries to make the transition from the swimming pool to finding his stride on land.