Colquitt County tennis players Ricky Patel, left, and David Forehand, center, practice with coach Grant Hammack on Thursday at the Packer Park courts.

 The Colquitt County High tennis teams will travel to Tifton today for Chick-fil-A Tift County High School Invitational to begin a season in which both teams appear to have legitimate shots at Region 1-AAAAA championships.

The Packers and Lady Packers will both play West Laurens at 3:15 p.m. today at the Abraham Baldwin College courts.

It will be the first of three matches for each team in the tournament, which will end Saturday.

And it will be the first of three tournaments the Colquitt County teams will play in before the April 19 region tournament, which will be at Packer Park.

Colquitt also will play in tournaments at Kennesaw Mountain on March 2-3 and at Lowndes on March 16-17.

The Colquitt County teams will also play home-and-home series with the other four teams in the region and will play just one other non-region opponent, future region foe Camden County in Kingsland on April 13.

“Our schedule is going to be tough right out of the gate,” said boys coach Grant Hammack, who was named the region’s Coach of the Year the last two seasons. “Our record might not be as good as it has been. We’ll be up against some really good competition.”

The Colquitt County boys team has all three singles players back from last year’s team that won the region championship, went three rounds deep in the state tournament and finished 20-3.

Andrew Harvin will start his fourth straight season playing No. 1 singles when the Packers take the court against West Laurens today.

The reigning region Player of the Year, Harvin was 17-4 last year and won all eight of his region matches. He went to three sets just once in region competition.

Bo Blalock, an All-Region first-team player last season, will be back at No. 2 singles after posting a 20-3 record last year.

No. 3 singles player David Forehand also is back after an All-Region season in which he went 22-1.

He takes an 19-match winning streak into his junior season.

Ricky Patel and Nick Nichols will play No. 1 doubles and Coby King and Nick Mobley will take the court today as the No. 2 doubles team.

Nichols was part of the All-Region No. 1 doubles team last year, paired with Brandon Oaks. The two went 14-2 last season.

Patel also is an All-Region player, having teamed with John Barber to go 11-1 at No. 2 doubles last season.

“Ricky has really stepped up his game,” Hammack said.

“He and Nick just need some time playing together.”

“Our top seven have been working really hard,” Hammack said. Hammack said despite the veteran presence, his team “could be a little green around the edges.”

He said he hopes to be able to develop some depth with the young players on the roster.

Hammack likes the progress made by three freshmen: Cody Jenkins, Jeremy Johnson and John Buck Eunice.

Also playing for the Packers this year are Phillip Long, Ridge Underwood, Scott Jacobs, Cameron Johnson, Rusty Watson, Blake Byington,Chase Morgan, Hunter White, Adrian Barros, McCants Plymel and Christopher Bullard.

The Packers will be the favorites to defend their region championship, but, Hammack said, “Overall, the region will be tougher that it has been. We’ll have our work cut out for us.”

The Colquitt County girls will try to build on a strong finish to their 2011 season.

The Lady Packers were 3-8 at one time, but finished 12-11 by winning nine of their last 12.

The Colquitt girls went into the region tournament as the No. 4 seed, but finished third and then fell just short of qualifying for the state semifinals with a 2-3 loss to Harrison.

“We’ve got a lot of experience and these girls are working real hard,” coach Holly Lewis said.

“We’ve got a lot of tough-minded girls who love tennis. When it hits 5:30 (the time after-school practices end), they’re not ready to go.”

And Lewis reiterated what she said when the Lady Packers fell to Harrison at Packer Park last April: “We stand a good chance of winning the region.”

And, she added, “If we work hard, I don’t see why we can’t reach the Final Four.

Junior Erica Mobley will be back to play No. 1 singles.

Conley Ward, who was the All-Region second-team No. 3 singles player last year as a freshman, will play No. 2 singles this year.

Senior Catie Statom will be the No. 3 singles player.

Senior Rachel Funderburk and junior Hannah Radney will play No. 1 doubles. Juniors Aislin Sheffield and Ansley Moore will play No. 2 doubles.

Lewis said freshman Courtney Terrell will be the singles alternate. Sophomore Haley Cash and freshman Rachel Bostick will be the doubles alternates.

Also on the roster are juniors Lindsey Stapleton, Heather Hardy and Haley Cash; sophomore Desiree Cash; and freshmen Haley Trebony, Vickie Davis, Fataha Thomas and Keira Barrett. Beylee Roberts is the manager.

Lewis will have some help this season as former Lady Packers coach Linda Berl has signed on as a community coach.

Berl is working two days a week and will help out at matches, Lewis said.

“We work well together and we think along the same lines,” Lewis said.

Colquitt County will play its first matches at Packer Park on Thursday, Feb. 16, when Valdosta visits for the first region contests of the season.