The Pickens High School tennis team kicked off its 2012 season on Wednesday with a series of matches against the Creekview Grizzlies and Lady Grizzlies. The rust that comes with the offseason showed in the opener for Pickens, as great efforts from Christian Stewart and Chris Dallas in the #1 boy’s doubles’ matches provided the team its only victory on the day. Scores of all the matches were:

Boy’s Singles
Sam Dotson vs Aaron Klink 2-6, 2-6
Josh Golden vs Eric Daniel 2-6, 0-6
Sam Heath vs Brennan Garriques 0-6, 0-6

Boy’s Doubles
Christian Stewart and Chris Dallas vs Josh Torralba and Cooper Everspaugh 7-6, 2-6, 7-6
Brandon Parris and Anthony Vecchio vs Landen Egeland and Bennett Gibbs 1-6, 1-6

Girl’s Singles
Hannah Keeter vs Emily Waters 2-6, 1-6
Whitney Clark vs Emily Fraysier 1-6, 2-6
Peyton Heath vs Lauren Pero 5-7, 0-6

Girl’s Doubles
Brooke Smith and Bryce Odom vs Kathryn Hunter and Olivia Reed 2-6, 0-6
Katie Tippens and Rachel Varnado vs Sloan Anderson and Hannah Rowland 3-6, 1-6

While the afternoon was disappointing, it is clear that the matches were a good learning tool that will undoubtedly prepare the players for the regional opponents they will face as the season progresses.

The team’s next set of matches will be on February 28th, when the Dragons and Dragonettes take on Sequoyah at home. The matches are tentatively scheduled to begin at 4.