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Tennis: Coppell close to securing No. 1 seed
By Justin Thomas, jthomas@starlocalnews.com
FLOWER MOUND - Seeding for the District 5-5A tennis tournament is starting to clear up after a pair of key matches Tuesday.
And by virtue of Flower Mound's 18-1 victory over Denton Ryan and Coppell's 10-9 win against Marcus, the Jaguars (3-1) and Marauders (3-1) will square off Tuesday at Flower Mound with a first-round bye on the line.
The Cowboys (4-0), meanwhile, will lock up the No. 1 seed with a win Tuesday against Hebron (results not available as of press time) after previously picking up head-to-head wins over Flower Mound and the Marauders. The Hawks (2-2), Lewisville (0-4) and Denton Ryan (0-4) bring up the rear of the standings.
It was Coppell that got out of the gates quickly, winning 5-of-7 doubles matches, including all three boys matches that featured a 9-7 pro-set win from Tyler Stayer and Danny Bush over Tucker Barnes and David Wittkower. The Cowboys also received doubles wins from the teams of Zixiao Li and Kihwan Lee, and Sid Bagaria and Jacob Villanueva.
"We weren't necessarily expecting the match to be quite that close," said Jane Jackson, Coppell head coach. "It wasn't easy and we were real fortunate that we got off to such a good start in doubles to get ahead. Tyler and Danny's win was a critical piece of the puzzle for us."
Marcus, meanwhile, claimed two of the three girls doubles matches with the tandem of Preethi Kasilingam and Molly Fisher winning, 8-3, and the pairing of Vanessa Phan and Nicole Wilson victorious, 8-1. Coppell's team of Lizzie Bell and Mira Shah won in doubles, 8-4, while the mixed team of Abby White and Josh Abaya topped Marcus' Tanya Jacques and Josh Peters, 8-2.
"We certainly had our chances," said Kelly Langdon, Marcus head coach. "But we were down, 5-2, after doubles and that is a big hole to climb out of. Having said that, we were literally a point away from winning one more match."
Trailing, 5-2, Marcus got back in the match in singles, winning 5-of-6 girls matches. Sebastian Langdon (6-3, 6-0) and Wittkower (6-4, 7-5) also chipped in victories in boys singles.
"We usually feel pretty confident with Tyler at No. 1 singles," Jackson said. "Sebastian just played very well for Marcus. The rest of our goys came through, though, while our girls struggled a little bit."
Winners for the Cowboys were Li (6-3, 6-0), Lee (6-3, 6-3), Bagaria (6-1, 6-1) and Kavi Shah (6-2, 6-4).
Fisher (6-0, 6-1), Ludvine Varga (7-6, 6-2), Phan (6-4, 6-1), Wilson (7-5, 6-0) and Anna McMullen (6-2, 6-2) picked up victories for the Lady Marauders.
However, Coppell's Abby White squeaked out a late victory in a super-breaker over Kasilingam (6-2, 3-6, 10-3) that could have swung the match Marcus' way.
"That was critical," Jackson said. "In a match that was decided by one point, you have to have them all."
"It was a complete reversal of last year when we won, 10-9," Langdon added. "It's always back-and-forth between us. I think we've played them in each of the last four years and the score has been 10-9 each time."
Flower Mound kept pace with Marcus after pounding Denton Ryan, 18-1.
The Jaguars lone loss came in a super-breaker in boys singles but the Jaguars failed to surrender a set in any other match.
Doubles winners were Andrew Eurek and Austin Todd (8-1), Aaron Johnson and Cole Schafer (8-3), and Noah Axelrod and Armand Behroozi (8-6) in boys; and Autusa Behroozi and Edwina Popa (8-0), Kacie Berutti and Marilyn Lu (8-2), and Allie Polk and Maddie Todd (8-0) in girls. In mixed, Lily Choi and Thomas Radle (8-0) had little difficulty en route to a shutout.
Jaguars winning in singles included Todd (6-0, 6-2), Eurek (6-0, 6-0), Johnson (6-2, 6-1), Schafer (8-1) and Axelrod (8-4). Winners for the Lady Jaguars were Popa (6-0, 6-2), Berutti (6-2, 6-3), Behroozi (6-0, 6-1), Lu (6-1, 6-1), Bianca Benefee (8-1) and Choi (8-2).
The Marauders and Jaguars squared off Tuesday in their regular season finales (results not available as of press time). It is also likely the teams could meet up 10 days later in the second round of the district tournament.
Coppell closed the regular season against Hebron.
"Anytime you get in a 10-9 match there is a feeling of urgency," Jackson said. "That is what we need the kids to have every time they walk on the court. I was thankful to have a match like that in a way. Hopefully we keep playing well against Hebron and still have that urgency."
Lewisville was also in action and despite falling against the Hawks, 18-1, the Farmers continue to show improvement.
For the second consecutive match, Lewisville picked up a win as Josef Winkler won in boys singles (6-4, 6-2). Last week, Xavier Ramirez won in boys singles for the first time in district for the Farmers. Winkler and Ramirez also teamed up in doubles and were competitive before coming up short (8-5).
Winners for Hebron in singles included Noah Harness (6-4, 6-4), Ky Nguyen (6-2, 6-2), Dakota Foley (6-1, 6-2), Julian Barata (6-1, 6-1), Austin Fix (6-0, 6-1) and Evan Kerr (6-1, 6-1).
Girls winners were Tori Pradier (6-1, 6-0), Katelyn Dattilo (6-0, 6-0), Alex Samuels (6-0, 6-0), Natalie Landa (8-0), Samantha Hart (8-0), Kendall Risser (6-1, 6-0) and Alexis Meldrum (6-1, 6-2).
In doubles, Hebron picked up wins from the pairings of Dattilo and Pradier (8-0), Landa and Hart (8-2), Grace Kang and Risser (8-4), Nguyen and Harness (8-5), Foley and Barata (8-4), Fix and David Seo (8-0) and Samuels and Dattilo (8-3).
Tennis: Carroll cruising toward district tourney
Southlake Carroll's tennis team is closing in on the No. 1 seed in the District 4-5A Tournament after cruising past Keller Timber Creek last Tuesday, 19-0.
The Dragons and Lady Dragons combined to drop just one set in singles play and did not lose more than two games in any of their seven doubles matches.
Carroll closed the regular season Tuesday at Keller (results not available as of press time) with the district tournament slated for this Tuesday.
The Indians are currently second in the district standings.
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