With the Brownwood Lions and Lady Lions carrying one of the most experienced rosters into District 7-4A team tennis competition this year, second-year head coach Dalton Hutchins is hopeful his squad can flip the script and its position in the final league standings.
Brownwood finished the 2024 team season with a 4-8 overall record and went 1-3 in District 7-4A action before bowing out in the opening round of the playoffs. The Lady Lions and Lions will again be competing against Glen Rose, Lampasas, Gatesville and Stephenville in league play during the fall semester.
“There’s a lot of seniors from a lot of the district teams that graduated,” Hutchins said. “They’re going to be younger and we’re going to be more of the seasoned team. I’m really hoping we take advantage of that. We’ve got the experience, but the team season is tricky because every match counts. Whether you’re the No. 1 player or the No. 6 player, those matches count the same and we learned that the hard way, that literally every match counts. The kids hear us say that, but they’ve lived through a lot of that. Hopefully the kids really believe that and remember what happened and don’t put us in that position again.”
Brownwood returns a strong nucleus of seniors, especially on the girls side, led by Ashlyn Bundick and Lanie Johnson – who qualified for regionals in doubles play in the spring – along with Anna Daniel and Emory May. Other Lady Lions to watch include Kirra Niff and Jami Patterson.
“Every year I’m excited because I love getting to see the new group of seniors, especially the ones that have been in the program since the seventh grade,” Hutchins said. “It’s always fun to see them come full circle at the end of their tennis career. This year we’ve got a solid group of senior girls, which we haven’t had in a while. I’m hoping we take we take advantage of that with our experience out there. I know a lot of the girls, especially, want to make up for some missed opportunities last year. They didn’t perform super well during the team season, so they’re motivated to finish a lot stronger this year.”
On the boys side, seniors Eric Smith and Trine Baugh, along with juniors Aiden Oplotnik, Cooper Morgan and Blake Hutchins – who has also competed at regionals as a doubles competitor – are the most experienced returnees.
“It’s a really strong upperclassmen core,” Hutchins said. “Eric Smith and Trine Baugh are the seniors leading, and Blake Hutchins, Aiden Oplotnik and Cooper Morgan are our juniors. We also have a really good group of freshmen players, boys and girls. Looking down the road that’s going to happen for the next couple of years. I’m super excited to see what the middle school program brings up the next couple of years as well.”
The Lions and Lady Lions open the season at 6 p.m. Thursday at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene against Hereford. Other non-district dates include Aug. 9 at home against Mineral Wells and Keller Fossil Ridge; Aug. 16 at home against Copperas Cove; Aug. 21 at San Angelo Lake View; Aug. 28 at home versus Graham; Sept. 6 at Sweetwater and at Snyder; Sept. 11 at home against Abilene Cooper; and Sept. 13 against Fredericksburg and Kerrville Tivy in Mason.
“We want to start creating a culture and environment with the tennis team and program of not just focusing on the results,” Hutchins said of the pre-district goals. “We want competitors, kids that day in and day out can promise me and Coach (Casey) Shannon that they’ll get out there and compete no matter who the opponent is, and they can take that into the classroom and into their job later in life. They can’t always promise they’re going to win, and we’re not focusing on the results, but the attitude and effort. We want to focus on creating a warrior spirit in these first few matches leading into district, and by doing that, hopefully the results will follow.”
District matches are scheduled for Sept. 2 at Glen Rose, Sept. 18 at Lampasas, Sept. 23 at home against Gatesville, and Oct. 2 at home against Stephenville.
