By ADAM KUJAWSKI, Staff Writer
It appears the Hanna Golden Eagles will play postseason tennis this year.
Hanna has completed its regular season and compiled a 5-2 record, good for third place in District 32-6A behind Harlingen High and Harlingen South.
It’s unclear yet when team tennis playoffs will start, due to some teams needing to play makeup games on account of inclement weather from earlier in the season.
When the postseason does start, though, Hanna coach Terry Hoover thinks his team has just as good a shot as anybody.
“We like our chances,” he said. “We’ve improved a lot this year.
“Our young kids have stepped up and our older kids have really shown good leadership.”
MISSING OUT: With a District 32-6A record of 2-4 as of Monday — when Rivera had its final regular-season match against Los Fresnos — the Raiders have been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.
Coach Danny Espinosa said his team was close to advancing but needed more production from the younger players near the back end of the lineup. He is encouraged, though, by the experience they’ve gained this season.
“We’ve played a lot of scrimmages,” he said. “We’ve never played seven before and we played seven this year.
“All the kids were here, they responded, they competed and we ended up with a 4-3 record (in the preseason), which is pretty good considering we have a lot of young kids on the boy’s team.”
Espinosa also was impressed was senior Julissa Rostro. She was 22-0 in singles and doubles matches until a rough day last Tuesday against Harlingen South, when she dropped two matches.
Individual tennis will start for Rivera on Nov. 14 and 15 when the Raiders travel to Harlingen for a varsity tournament.
Adam Kujawski covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @adamkujo1.