Warren senior Brody Alexander charges the ball during a 5-2 team win over Elk County Catholic on Wednesday at Betts Park. Photo courtesy of Mark Evans

Warren’s boys tennis team opened with a 5-2 win over District 9’s Elk County Catholic on Wednesday at Betts Park.

“We decided to play by the District 9 format today to get more kids in the lineup,” said Warren coach Thomas Pellegrino. “They play a 4-3 (four singles and three doubles) format, which allowed us to get 10 players into the lineup tonight.”

Warren won three of the four singles matches.

At top singles, Adam Strandburg defeated Bradyn Pistner, 6-1, 6-0.

“Adam set the tone for the team today,” said Pellegrino. “He went out there, played aggressive and put pressure on his opponent early and never let up.”

At No. 2, Lucas Thrift defeated Frank Messineo, 6-3, 6-3.

At third singles, Brody Alexander defeated Julien Lanzel, 6-1, 6-1.

“Brody played steady from the baseline today and kept his errors to a minimum,” said Pellegrino. “This was a solid showing for his singles debut.”

At No. 4, ECC’s Will Wortman edged Warren’s Finn Ordiway, 6-0, 2-6, 10-8.

“In doubles action, we had three competitive matches as ECC elected to repeat all of their top singles players,” said Pellegrino.

At first doubles, the Warren duo of Jack Lynds and Ben Scott defeated Pistner and Lanzel, 8-3.

“This was a competitive matchup for Jack and Ben as they were playing a team’s (numbers) one and three,” said Pellegrino. “Coach Tarpenning and I were impressed with how they handled the matchup and took care of business.”

At No. 2, the ECC pair of Messineo and Wortman defeated Jaxon Thrift and Collin Ellis, 8-6.

At third doubles, the Warren duo of Bill Bennett and Owen Baldensperger defeated Simon Dornisch and Mac Messineo, 8-3.

“Bill and Owen stepped on the court when the team match was at 3-0 and wanted to be the ones to seal things up,” said Pellegrino. “They got off to a quick 4-1 start and took over the net to close out the match for the Dragons.”

Josh Westover, Elliott Striker, Gabe Dougherty, Karson McCollough, and Tobia Reinard were victorious in junior varsity play.

“Being the first match of the season, we were happy with today’s performance,” added Pellegrino. “We had the opportunity to start 10 players tonight and get a good look at options as we go into region matchups in a couple weeks.”