The Italy Tennis Team hosted a scrimmage at the newly refurbished Italy tennis courts on Wednesday. The teams were looking good as they played both doubles and singles matches as under the watchful eye of Coach Dana Hamby.

Participating in the scrimmage along with Italy were Dawson, Hubbard and Waxahachie Advantage. Italy struggled to win games in “the first to win 6 games wins the match” format.

According to Zach Hernandez, he and doubles partner, Ivan Roldan, were relunctant to show all their skills before district begins.

Freshman Collin Westbrook didn’t hold back against a Dawson player as Westbrook won his opening set 6-4.

The tennis team practices between 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday at the Italy tennis courts. Stop by and watch what could be one of the most athletic tennis teams ever to represent Italy.

Singles player Darrin “Butter” Moore looked like a seasoned pro as he served several aces throughout the day. Expect more from Moore at district.

The doubles duo of the explosive Becca DeMoss and the skilled Lexie Miller will prove overpowering for district opponents as they won a doubles match against Hubbard.

The size and strenght of Francisco “Cisco” Perez combined with the cat-like reflexes of Eddie Garcia could be a formidable challenge to district challengers. Perez is already impacting the world of tennis much like William “The Refrigerator” Perry impacted the NFL in 1985 with his, larger than life roll, for the Superbowl Champions the Chicago Bears.

Doubles Partners, Jacob Lopez and Delma Garcia, seemed to get stronger as the day went on making them my Cinderella and Cinderfella picks to make district.

Also in doubles, Taylor Benavides and Megan Hopkins will be tough to contend with by season’s end. Benevidez will try to supply the power and Megan is already the tower that should deter any prayerful lobs from opponents.

Beware all you singles players out there when going against State medaling powerlifter Kaytlyn Bales. For fun, Bales rockets tiny tennis balls at ducking and dodging competitors.

Singles player Krystal Johnson pinned her braids back and had a ball on Wednesday and undoubtedly will help the Gladiators cause a racket this season in tennis.

“Dana did an outsanding job coordinating the scrimmage and getting the other schools on board with the event,” said Basketball Coach Larry Mayberry, of Tennis Coach Dana Hamby, while he was grilling hot dogs and hamburgers for the spectators.

It’s no joke! The teams are really fun to watch and there is exciting young talent representing the Italy Gladiators in tennis this season…even if the scrimmage was on April Fool’s day.