Fall sports have finally gotten underway. Here are five storylines from the season’s first weeks.

Tennis stars rock and it’s not even close

Girls tennis started the season on Aug.7 and some teams have dominated the early goings.

The Greater Miami Conference opened up strong and three teams, Oak Hills, Princeton and Lakota East, have already won at least three matches each.

Oak Hills jumped out to a 5-0 start and won four of five by scores of 5-0 or 4-1. Only the 3-2 defeat of Seton on Aug. 15 was a 3-2 victory.

From the looks of early scores, winners dominated their opponents in most games. In the week of Aug. 10 – Aug. 16, 24 tennis scores were submitted to our scores file and 11 of those games ended with a 5-0 score with eight more matches decided by a 4-1 score.

Young guns run the links in girls golf

According to conference websites, only the GMC,  the Eastern Cincinnati Conference and the Cincinnati Hills League have a senior golfer as the conference leader in average.

Mason’s Catherine Zhang has golfed an average score of 37.2 in 54 holes to lead the GMC and Taylor’s Mary Helen Strasser has a 42.5 average across 36 holes in the CHL. Leah Swayne leads the ECC in a tie with her teammate, junior Katie Gabert, with a 37 average.

Underclassmen run the other leagues, including St. Ursula’s Zoe Luebbers, who has a 36 average as a sophomore and tops the Girls Greater Catholic League.

Usual suspects place in boys preseason golf

The Oakwood High School Invitation featured 15 schools from Southwest to Central Ohio in the Aug. 6 event.

St. Xavier won the event with a 304 team score while Elder was the runner-up and La Salle and Moeller tied for third place with a 318, giving the four teams of the GCL South the top four positions at the event.

In the ECC preseason tournament, Loveland won for the second-consecutive season as Tyler Vallee shot a 71 to lead the individuals.

In the CHL tournament, Indian Hill edged Mariemont by two strokes to win the team portion. Mariemont’s Tom Buchert and Indian Hill’s Peter Sheakley each shot a 71 to split as individuals.

Head to Indiana for your soccer fix

No soccer so far in Ohio and Kentucky, but Indiana can get your fix now.

Indiana schools could begin contests Aug. 15 and East Central continued the theme of starting the season with a bang. The girls soccer squad at East Central beat Franklin County 11-0 on Aug. 17.

East Central also started its volleyball season, falling to Greensburg 3-1 in a non-conference bout.

Prepare for more to come. The athletes have.

On Tuesday, Aug. 18, Gov. Mike DeWine announced he will revise the order to allow contact sports to begin, meaning football, soccer and field hockey will get their time under the lights.

More: Gov. Mike DeWine gives Ohio high school contact sports a green light with caution

Depending on school districts and local boards of health, athletes could return to nearby fields or gyms.

Prepare for more to come because the coaches and athletes sure have. Practices didn’t stop with the uncertainty. Football, field hockey and soccer players will be ready to play knowing they have an opportunity to play that’s not to be taken for granted. 

More: Cincinnati Public Schools parents, athletes at protest rally: ‘We really need a season’