Who needs experience playing tennis?

Brandywine’s No. 3 doubles team of Rachael Szilagyi and Alyssa Bolen have overpowered opponents in their first year of playing competitive tennis.

The two sophomores improved to 24-0 with their 6-4, 6-1 win over Berrien Springs’ Pearl Annan and Lilly Sheline in the championship round at the Division IV regional two weeks ago.

Szilagyi and Bolen, along with their Brandywine teammates, will next participate at the state finals this weekend at Grand Blanc/Holly.

“It’s insane how well we did,” said Szilagyi about the regional title. “It’s just unbelievable. In the beginning of the year there was no way I thought we would be regional champions.”

“In our first match, Rachael dominated,” said Bolen. “In the second match, we both did well. In our third match, we started out a little rough then we finished strong. We held our own against our toughest competition of the year.”

Straight A students, Szilagyi and Bolen wouldn’t give themselves a passing grade for how they performed last spring in soccer.

“I wasn’t very good at soccer and I didn’t enjoy it,” Bolen said.

“I wasn’t fast enough to play soccer,” Szilagyi said. “I just wasn’t good enough.”

The duo, who have been friends since the fifth grade and play volleyball and basketball, decided to give tennis a try.

“We agreed last summer that we’d go to a couple of summer tennis programs,” Szilagyi said.

After getting a taste of the sport, Szilagyi and Bolen jumped at the chance to play for the Brandywine girls tennis team.

Bobcats coach Joe Marazita, who has led the program to the state finals six of the last eight years, is glad they did.

“We had a couple of other kids, like Mackenzie Shelton, Carlie Newman and Lauren Leonard, that played basketball for us and they also came over to play tennis,” said Marazita. “I think (Szilagyi and Bolen) saw the success, maybe, that we had year in and year out and they decided to give the sport a try.

“It’s their first year and lucky me and (assistant) coach (Richard) Robbins. You can’t even use a measuring stick with them. They’ve just worked so hard. They bring to the table that competitiveness from their other sports. They make up for what they lack in experience with competitiveness and athleticism.”

Marazita felt that Szilagyi and Bolen’s strengths complimented each other perfectly on the court.

“I thought Szilagyi had the height and the long legs,” Marazita said. “I thought she would be a great net player.

“Then when I saw the athleticism and how hard Alyssa Bolen competes, I thought she would be great in the backrow. Any ball that Rachael isn’t able to get it seems that Bolen can go from side to side and run the ball down.

“It has just worked great.”

Don’t expect any more sport changes from the duo in the spring.

“I like tennis a lot,” Bolen said. “It’s my favorite sport now.”