Demopolis High School’s tennis teams are off to a good start in 2014 despite limited practice time due to weather.

The girls team is 2-0 after the first two matches of the season with wins over Tuscaloosa County and Jackson High. The boys team is 1-1 after defeating Tuscaloosa County and falling to Jackson 5-4.

Head coach Clay Massey said he’s been impressed with the improvement of both teams this year.

“The boys team is talented but young,” Massey said. “We have three first-year players who have never played tennis before, but they have improved tremendously since our first practice. The girls team worked really hard in the off-season, and they have shown a lot of improvement from the end of last season.”

Massey said both teams are about where he expected them to be at this point in the season.

“The first-year players are giving it everything they’ve got and several players are stepping up to be leaders,” he said. “We brought a lot of girls back from last year, and I expected them to be strong this year.”

For the boys, Kyle Woodruff is the No. 1 seed, Carson Parten is the No. 2 seed and Garrett Miller is the No. 3 seed. Woodruff is a sophomore, Parten is a freshman and Miller is a junior. Massey said the three first-year players are behind them in the four through six seed spots.

“They’re all about equal right now,” he said. “Garrett Miller has done a phenomenal job stepping up and leading the younger players and helping with their development. Woodruff and Parten have too, but you can really see it in Garrett at practice.”

He added that Will Webb was expected to be a big part of the team this year, but he suffered a knee injury a couple of weeks ago.

For the girls, Meredith Hill is the No. 1 seed, Sarah Culpepper is the No. 2 seed and Anna Ezell is the No. 3 seed. Hill is a junior, Culpepper is an eighth-grader and Ezell is a junior.

“They’re all solid players,” Massey said. “We’ve got a really good group of girls this year.”