After conquering obstacle and obstacle throughout the 2023 season, Wimberley High School’s Team Tennis finally captured the grandest prize of them all: a state championship.
The Texans upset the No. 1 ranked Canyon Randall Raiders in the State Semifinal round 10-8 before defeating the Kaufman Lions 10-7 to capture the state championship for the first time since 2021.
With a second title added to the trophy case, Head Coach Kenneth Gustafson said he was proud and honored to coach a special group of student-athletes.
“The coaching staff is super fortunate to have kids that are super hard workers,” Gustafson said. “They are extremely talented tennis players and know how to keep fighting even when things are not going our way. We are super excited for these kids to have this opportunity.”
During one of the toughest challenges of the season, the Texans found themselves paired with the top-ranked team in the state in the Canyon Randall Raiders with a record of 28-3.
The Texans found themselves trailing after doubles portion 5-2 as both teams entered the singles portion of play. Despite that, Wimberely was unfettered.
“Of the five matches that we lost, four of them were really close in a third set tiebreak,” Gustafson said. “We knew that the gap wasn’t that big, it was just that things didn’t go our way. We called back on our experience against Fredericksburg as we were ahead 4-3 which was a lot tighter than the first time we played them… when we got off the court during doubles, there was a hint of frustration but not disappointment or many quit in any of the kids. So we called back on that experience, how we swept singles and how we could do the same thing here.”
In the boys singles, Marcus Gonzales, Finn Migerey, Drew Vinson and Joe Sheffield took the victories for the Texans to cut the lead down to 7-6.
Flipping to the girls singles matches, the Texans pulled away as Ella Malone, Lea Martin, Kate Carson and Gwen Pierce won in straight sets to give Wimberley the comeback win at 10-8.
“The kids didn’t bat an eye at that,” Gustafson said. “They were ready to go and take care of their matches. They battled so hard and this team battles harder than any other team that I’ve been around. That’s what separated them this year and made them a special group.”
The ability to overcome any obstacle has been a staple for the Texans this year which helped set the foundation for their eventual state championship run.
“The adversity goes back further with this team,” Gustafson said. “Four separate times we lost a match 9-10 so this is a team that has needed to battle through stuff. All of those steps we took during the season lead us to a point where we got to a team like Canyon Randall, nothing was too big. This moment was never too big for this group. They did a great job of finding that energy and intensity. The results weren’t always what we wanted but we stuck to playing good tennis.”
As the Texans were set to battle Kaufman for the State Championship, Wimberley found themselves in another battle against Mother Nature.
Despite having their pre-game blow up, it was just another obstacle not big enough for the Texans to overcome.
“After the regional tournament, I sent an extremely detailed itinerary of where we would be hitting, what time, etc etc,” Gustafson said. “By the time we got there, we had to throw that in the trash can. Different weather delays, all the hands we were dealt that impacted the matches, it just got to the point where everything was organized chaos. We had our goal in mind and the kids were not going to be distracted by that.”
Wimberley led Kaufman following the doubles portion of the match 5-2 following wins by the teams of Malone and Kate Carson, Kennedy Carson and Gwen Pierce, Martin and Maggie Moore, Gonzales and Branton Kirchner and Maia Marton and Ty Marko.
Despite Kaufman winning the boys singles matches at 4-2, Wimberley rolled through girls singles matches winning 5-1 to complete the state championship run at 10-7.
Now with two state championships underneath their belt, the Texans are seeing the fruits of their labor moving forward.
“The biggest thing we can hope for moving forward is that we have kids that are willing to fight,” Gustafson said. “That 2021 class set the foundation for the success of this program and now we are starting to see how long lasting that impact is going to be. These kids continue to put forth the same time and intensity as those before them. We are in a really good spot because we have a lot of awesome kids.”
