The Brownwood High tennis team came one point shy of repeating as district champions last fall, suffering a 10-9 loss in the league opener to eventual league champ Brock.

The Lions and Lady Lions will be facing new foes in the revamped District 6-4A this year, but missing out on back-to-back district titles still bothers the members of the program.

“It stuck with us,” said head coach Crystal Blazek. “We don’t want to get second again, we don’t want to be the runner-up. Our goal is to be district champs.”

District 6-4A action will pit Brownwood against Stephenville, Glen Rose, Gatesville and Lampasas. The greatest challengers to the Lady Lions and Lions in their quest for a district championship are expected to be Gatesville and Lampasas.

“The district shapes up pretty good for us,” Blazek said. “The two that have had strong programs are Lampasas and Gatesville.”

The first step on their quest for two district championships in a three-year span occurs this weekend as the regular season finally arrives. The Lions and Lady Lions will host Graham at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Brownwood High tennis courts as the opener was delayed almost two weeks due to the COVID-19 restrictions enforced by the UIL.

“It’s across the board, everybody’s in the same boat.” Brownwood tennis head coach Crystal Blazek of the later start. “The kids are working hard right now so I think we’ll be fine, we’ll be OK.”

The Lions and Lady Lions will have fewer pre-district matches to prepare for its 6-4A foes, but the modified schedule didn’t affect Brownwood as much as others in the area.

“It wasn’t too bad for us,” Blazek said. “When I started doing the fall schedule for this year we had a lot of schools that were our size, 4A, and we added Wall to our schedule and they’re a good team at the 3A level. We weren’t really too much affected because we didn’t have a lot of 5As and 6As. We’re ready to rock and roll with who we have on the schedule.”

The Lady Lions are the most experienced group, with four returnees back from last year.

“Expectations are high for the ones that are returning, we’re still going to be pretty solid,” Blazek said. “We return Aliyah Uvalle and Lillian Jonescue, who are both seniors, and Victoria Ramos, Labritaney Pollard, and Hannah Netherland are all coming back.”

For the Lions, the varsity roster will feature plenty of newcomers.

“We lost six boys out of the top seven, so it’s like working with a whole new group,” Blazek said. “On the boys side we have Mo Goff coming back. The other guy that got to play some varsity wise is Peter Le, and he’s improved so much over the summer and he’ll be a good addition.”

Those expected to compete for a spot in the rotations include Tatum Dehart, Emma Delgado, Natalie Mares, Aish Nigalye, Lelia Rivera, and Madalyn Scull on the girls side, along with Dillon Gatlin, Victor Hernandez, Julian Lares, Tyler Mitchell, River Prado, Nathan Ramos and Taylor Wallace for the boys.

“Hopefully we grow and improve from each preseason match and get better,” Blazek said. “A lot of kids will be out there for the first time playing in some of those spots. If we’re getting better from each match then we’ll be good.”

BROWNWOOD HIGH

VARSITY TENNIS SCHEDULE

Aug. 22 Graham, 10 a.m.

Aug. 25 at San Angelo Lake View, 4 p.m.

Aug. 29 Wall, 9 a.m

Aug. 29 Snyder, 1:30 p.m.

Sept. 10 Glen Rose*, 4 p.m.

Sept. 12 Sweetwater, 8 a.m.

Sept. 19 Copperas Cove, Noon

Sept. 24 at Gatesville*, 4 p.m.

Sept. 26 Lampasas*, 9 a.m.

Oct. 1 at Stephenville*, 4 p.m.

Oct. 20 Argyle (at Weatherford), 4 p.m.

* District 6-4A Match