BROOKINGS — The Brookings boys’ tennis team has an experienced roster this season and the Bobcats believe that will set them up for success that they have not had in recent years.

Brookings has all upperclassmen on its varsity roster and head coach Brian Dobbs believes it’s the best roster he’s had in awhile.

“We have a really experienced team. Our varsity is all juniors and seniors. We’re going to have four seniors and two juniors [in our lineup]. We have one new [player] Brodie McCarty who is a junior but has varsity experience in Gillete, Wyoming. … Pretty much everyone on varsity has experience and they’re all upperclassmen, so I’m optimistic about our chances this year. This is the best team that we have had in five years, maybe even longer than that,” Dobbs said.

The Bobcats played their first three duals of the season this past weekend and went 1-2. They fell to Brandon Valley and O’Gorman on Friday but then beat Rapid City on Saturday.

Zach Mueller, Braylon Peters, Brodie McCarty, Carson Kreie, Andrew Hahn, Jean-Claude St. Pierre and Xavier St. Pierre all saw action for the varsity team over the weekend.

Mueller and Peters will be playing in the No. 1 and No. 2 flights, respectively, and Dobbs said he thinks Peters has a shot to have a lot of success this season.

“Braylon Peters is at flight two. He dropped a flight. He was at one and Zach Mueller beat him in two challenge matches. Zach has really improved. He was our five last year but has gotten bigger and stronger and has matured, so he climbed from five to one in one year. But Braylon Peters probably has the most experience and is a senior and is going to be at flight two, which is going to be a little easier than flight one, so he might have the best chance to go far,” Dobbs said.

When it comes to goals for the season, Dobbs wasn’t quick to set anything big for the team. He said he just wants to make sure his players make the most of the opportunities this season and can set themselves up to play well come the end of the year.

“We don’t have any lofty goals as far as winning championships or anything. It’s kind of just the same as it’s always been. Try to have fun and build enthusiasm for the sport of tennis and maximize each person’s individual potential and hope they get as good as they can and get as far as they can. The highlights of the season are the ESD Tournament and the State Tournament. Those are the ones that the kids look forward to at the end of the year and so we want them to do as much winning as possible when we get to those,” Dobbs said.