Coaching Freshman

Good Morning Coaches,

I wanted to see if some of my fellow high school coaches could give me some feedback on a topic that has me baffled for the first time in my coaching career.  I have been coaching high school for 10 years now but have been a USPTA Elite Tennis Pro for close to 25 years.  I currently have a team made up of 12 freshman and 4 sophomores due to our school being brand new and only having those 2 grades to begin.  I have coached some teams with very little experience, teams with a ton of experience, and some right in the middle.  I have found it extremely frustrating this season trying to get the players to stay focused, stay positive, and finish matches.  We have won matches I did not think we would, lost matches I knew we should win, and have been as up and down as any team I have ever coached.  I have consistently had top 6 players beat their opponents the first time 6-3, 6-3 and then lose to them 6-3, 6-3 just a few weeks later and vice versa!  

I have worked on situational tennis in practice, I have been hard on them, easy on them, but mostly have tried to remain positive throughout the season.  I have players who can play at a high level for one set and then play like a novice in the second.  I have had players up 5-0 and end up winning 7-5 in sets, have had players down 5-0 only to come back and win in 3 sets, have had players beat other players with much higher UTR's, and then lose to players with much lower UTR's the next match.  What is the most frustrating is the players motivation and effort, specifically my freshman, who play 5 of the top 6 singles positions this spring.  I try to motivate them before the match, during the match, and after the match.  I am just at a loss how the same player can play so consistent and well but then the next set or next match they double fault 10 times and have 20 unforced errors! 

Now don't get me wrong, I have coached plenty of Freshman and Sophmores the last 10 years as a high school tennis coach but never so many at one time and never with 7 of the top 8 players all freshman!  I am trying all of the tricks I can think of and we are still consistently inconsistent.  They seem extremely motivated to battle until the end one match and then seem to be unmotivated the next match.  Is there a solution to this issue or is this just life coaching mostly freshman?  

Coach Jay James