It’s been a rough start for West Ranch Wildcats boys tennis in 2013.

The Wildcats team finished up its preseason schedule on Thursday, and remains winless heading into league play.

A 10-8 loss to the Campbell Hall Vikings at West Ranch High School dropped the Wildcats to 0-4 entering their league opener with Hart on March 19.

But that doesn’t mean the Wildcats should be counted out moving forward.

“We’ve improved each preseason match,” said West Ranch head coach Eric Spiecker. “We’ll push through one of these matches when we can start winning the tight sets.”

The Wildcats strength on Thursday came from its doubles side, which won six sets and nearly won a seventh when the No. 1 doubles team of Kevin Lin and Alex Sajnani lost in a tiebreaker 7-6 (7-3).

The team also dropped two pivotal points, losing two sets in which it led 5-2.

“The way our team is right now, we’re not going to blow out teams,” Spiecker said. “It’s not the way this team is built. This season’s going to be fun.”

The doubles team of Jonathan Lee and Brandon Oh led the Wildcats on the day, sweeping three sets 6-4, 6-4, 6-1.

It was in singles, though, where the Vikings separated themselves.

Peter Jivkov, Campbell Hall’s No. 1, swept three sets 6-4, 7-5, 6-0.

No. 2 singles player Luca Ferrari did the same, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0.

Chris Gaw won one singles set for the Wildcats on the day, defeating Vikings’ No. 3 Mathis McComb 6-0.

Jonathan Y. Lee won another for West Ranch, defeating McComb 6-2.

The Wildcats closed in on the Vikings late, trailing by two sets with two to play.

But the sets were split, with Jonathan Y. Lee pulling out the win and Ruben Banerjee and Nakhil Bhunralkar falling 4-6. The duo added one doubles win earlier, 6-3.

West Ranch now faces a long layoff before traveling to Hart to open league play.

The Indians fell 14-4 to the same Campbell Hall team on Tuesday.

“This team beats Hart 14-4 and we’re 8-10. Two sets we were down 5-2 (and drop),” Spiecker said. “We feel good going into league. We’ll be ready.”

Last season, the Wildcats finished second in the Foothill League at 8-2 overall and lost to El Dorado 12-6 in the first round of the CIF-Southern Section Division II playoffs.