Texan tennis has enjoyed success. They are the reigning state champions in team tennis from this past fall with the Texan’s district producing either the state champion or runner up since as far back as 2015. Last year’s spring state championship in boys doubles was a battle between two Wimberley teams for the second year in a row and the mixed doubles team made it to the final four at the state tournament. Success breeds within the program.
Getting out of the district tournament is not an easy task with the likes of Fredericksburg and Boerne yet six young people were able to do so last week as the matches were held Tuesday and Wednesday at the Wimberley courts. Advancing on to the regional round are John Moore (boys singles,) Ella Malone (girls singles,) Gwen Pierce and Sarah Cook (girls doubles,) and Kennedy Carson and Zach Viola (mixed doubles.)
Moore won impressively on his way to what is essentially the district championship, losing only two games in the entire five matches to the gold medal.
Head coach Kenny Gustafson is emphatic about Moore’s tennis. “John is playing at another level right now than the rest of the competition. There are a couple of kids once he gets to state that’ll push them pretty hard and make him really work for it. But to make it through an entire tournament losing two games is unheard of. You’re not supposed to do that. The level of tennis he’s playing right now is really fun to see. We’re really super excited about how hard he’s worked.”
Malone won singles gold and is no stranger to high level play and participation, advancing to the final four in mixed doubles at last year’s state event. Her girls’ singles season provided an opportunity for her to step up and take a leading role on the team.
Gustafson has been impressed with Malone’s improvement beyond the physical aspects of her game. “She played somebody who’s kind of been her rival for the last couple of years and got her first official win on the record on a fully completed match. The growth that she’s had this year is cool to see. Not only in her game, but in her maturity and how she handles tough matches like that. She ended in a really close tie break, where in the past, maybe we’ve seen some struggles for her. She powered through and closed it out on her first match point. She left no doubt in that win. She and John have been the two leaders of the team all year and I’m excited to see what she will do.”
The girls doubles team of Cook and Pierce have played together for two years and were reigning district champions from last year. The team has won gold and silver in multiple tournaments heading into the district showdown last week where they finished second to a newer team in the Fredericksburg lineup.
“Our girls played great and arguably had the toughest route out of anybody that ended up making it this far,” said Gustafson, adding,”Maybe mixed doubles would have that claim as well. Gwen and Sarah played a really tough team in the second round then beat the Fredericksburg two team, losing in the final to the Fredericksburg number ones. They played good tennis and they’re excited about an opportunity to take that next step and make it to state this year.”
The mixed doubles team of Carson and Ziola have been paired together for just a couple of months. Both players are new to the varsity lineup but have displayed an amazing amount of growth in a short period of time, pulling off major upsets along the way. Their style of tennis is extremely aggressive, forcing teams to work hard to get points. On their way to the finals matchup against Fredericksburg, Carson and Ziola beat two very good Boerne teams to advance.
Gustafson spoke about the team’s resiliency. “They played high quality tennis. We lost a close final to Fredericksburg in a first set tiebreaker then dropped a little bit in the second, but were still super competitive. In my opinion, the hardest thing to do in tennis is lose a final and then have to go play a play back. The team that’s coming up to play you is coming off a win, feeling good about their tennis, whereas you’re coming off of a tough loss in a match that would have given you a district title. Our kids stepped into that match with a ton of confidence. It was a really close first set then we kind of pulled away in the second. We’re excited to go see what they can do.”
The regional tournament is scheduled for April 11-12 at the Blossom Athletic Center of North East ISD in San Antonio.
