By SCOTT NOVAK
Niles Daily Star

The season opening schedule has not been very kind to the Brandywine tennis team.

The Bobcats opened the year against cross-town rival Niles and then competed in a very tough Buck Classic I on Saturday.

Tuesday afternoon Brandywine opened up Lakeland Conference action against the Bridgman Bees, a team many feel will be in contention for the league championship in 2009.

The visiting Bees scored a 7-1 win at Plym Park, but Bobcat coach David Sidenbender wasn’t disappointed with his team’s performance.

“I am very happy with the way we have competed so far against some top notch competition,” he said. “Bridgman is one of the best teams in the region and even though we only won one match, we competed in 90 percent of the matches very hard.”

One of the bright spots on the day was the play of No. 4 singles player Buck Bourdan, who defeated Logan Pitts 6-4 and 6-4.

“Buck Bourdan has really had a good start going 3-2 so far,” Sidenbender added.

He also noted that the team’s inexperience “will hurt early on, but I believe that we will overcome that and by the end of the season we will be a very solid team.”

Bridgman…7
Brandywine…1
Singles
1. David Hauck (BR) d. Dan Blank 6-0, 6-0; 2. Charlie Pawlik (BR) d. Jake Fiero 6-2, 6-3; 3. Ben Stenzel (BR) d. Tyler Hartman 6-1, 6-1; 4. Buck Bourdan (BW) d. Logan Pitts 6-4, 6-4

Doubles
1. Josiah Badger/Joe Koehler (BR) d. Cody Udell/Tyler Weeks 6-4, 6-2; 2. Aaron Klug/Matt England (BR) d. Jeremy Zimmerman/Josh Boger 6-1, 6-3; 3. Adam Klug/Sammi Higgin (BR) d. Brad Millin/Colten Ditto 6-1, 6-1; 4. Zach Bauer/Chad Starbuck (BR) d. Austin Searles/Jordan Moore 6-0, 6-1