The Brownwood High team tennis regular season begins Wednesday, as head coach Crystal Blazek continues to look for the right combinations to compete for the District 7-4A championship later this semester.
The Lions and Lady Lions will be looking to upend Gatesville, as Brownwood’s fall tennis district opponents remained the same as the last two years. In the spring, however, Gatesville and Lampasas will be replaced by Graham and Mineral Wells. The Lions and Lady Lions will face Stephenville and Glen Rose in league play in both semesters.
The most experienced group for Brownwood is the boys, led by Peter Le and River Prado.
“Peter Le will be a senior and he’s played a lot of UTR (University Tennis Ratings system, which replaces the USTA),” Blazek said. “River Prado has also played a lot this summer and he’ll be a junior. We have a few freshman boys that I think will step up into key roles by district. Eric Smith and Trine Baugh have looked good in practice.”
Other Lions who could make an impact in the fall include Jacob Singleton, Tyler Mitchell, Taevion Nickerson, Wesley Goodrich, Eric Waldrop, and Thomas Stewardson.
The girls will be looking to gain valuable experience during the pre-district slate, as Emma Delgado, Claire Meinecke, and Raylei Hickey have seen the most action on the court for the Lady Lions.
Also expected to vie for playing time are Ashlyn Bundick, Madalyn Goff, Lyric Shaw, Jazzmun Sanchez, Ihana Figueroa, Anna Daniel, and Ally Fulton.
Brownwood begins its season Wednesday against both Big Spring and Sweetwater.
“I’d like to see how some of them compete because this will be the first time a lot of them have played varsity, and there are some different rules,” Blazek said. “I just want to see how they perform and what we need to improve.”
The Lions and Lady Lions will also face Snyder, Lubbock All Saints, Keene, San Saba, College Station, and Liberty Hill outside of district.
“Right now, we don’t have a lot of experience but that will be remedied with a lot of match play,” Blazek said. “The skills are there, it will just be putting it all together. We’re playing some pretty good teams. We have Fredericksburg Thursday and they’re pretty much always a powerhouse. We have Iowa Park, who we haven’t seen in about two years. When we host a quad, we’ll have Graham and Wall here and Graham is always good.”
The District 7-4A slate features matches at home against Glen Rose (Sept. 6) and Lampasas (Sept. 22) and at Gatesville (Sept. 29) and Stephenville (Oct. 4).
As for what it will take for the Lions and Lady Lions to compete for the 7-4A crown, Blazek said, “We just have to be clicking on all cylinders by the time district rolls around. We need to find the right doubles combinations between now and then.”
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BROWNWOOD FALL TENNIS 2022 SCHEDULE
| Aug. 10 | Big Spring (at Abilene Rose Park) | 9 a.m. |
| Aug. 10 | Sweetwater (at Abilene Rose Park) | TBA |
| Aug. 11 | Fredericksburg (at Mason) | 10 a.m. |
| Aug. 16 | at Snyder | 9 a.m. |
| Aug. 16. | Lubbock All Saints (at Snyder) | TBA |
| Aug. 20 | Graham | 9 a.m. |
| Aug. 20 | Wall | 1:30 p.m. |
| Aug. 27 | Iowa Park (Location TBA) | 10 a.m. |
| Sept. 1 | Keene (Location TBA) | 4 p.m. |
| Sept. 6 | Glen Rose * | 4 p.m. |
| Sept. 15 | San Saba | 4 p.m. |
| Sept. 22 | Lampasas * | 4 p.m. |
| Sept. 24 | College Station (at Liberty Hill) | 1 p.m. |
| Sept. 24 | at Liberty Hill | 4 p.m. |
| Sept. 29 | at Gatesville * | 4 p.m. |
| Oct. 4 | at Stephenville * | 4 p.m. |
* District 7-4A Match