By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
Not long ago, Los Fresnos’ Larissa Lopez didn’t want to play tennis.
“My mom made me play my eighth-grade year, I joined toward the end of the season,” Lopez said. “I wasn’t really into (tennis). She wanted me to start something new, something different. But I didn’t know anything about tennis.”
It turns out her mother’s advice was the right advice for Lopez.
Now, the senior is the top player for the Lady Falcons and is leading the team into its own tennis tournament that started Friday and concludes today at Los Fresnos.
Lopez was off to a good start, opening with a 6-0, 6-1 victory in her first match.
“(Larissa’s) been No. 1 for two years,” Los Fresnos coach Bill Sandlin said. “She started with me as a freshman … she didn’t have very much experience, but she picked up the game really quickly and won her first freshmen tournament. She did pretty well that year and got second in district.”
That was the turning point for Lopez, as the victory in her first tourney gave her confidence and dedication to her new sport.
“Hey, I’m pretty good at this,” she recalled saying during her freshman season before deciding to stick to tennis.
Lopez dedicated herself during those first two seasons, practicing every day and playing tournaments on the weekends. It helped her move quickly up the Los Fresnos lineup, moving up to third by her sophomore season. By the end of that year, she was beating some of the seniors at the time in practices.
“When those kids have that experience when they’re younger, it helps when they come up (to varsity),” Sandlin said. “But it also matters how much they practice and dedicate themselves. She has a good work ethic, has a good attitude, likes to practice.
“The kids that move up the lineup, they practice on their own. The players that improve, play in the summer tournaments and she’s done that.”
Lopez was moved up to the top spot as a singles player as a junior and even played in mixed doubles with seniors during her sophomore and junior seasons in district tournaments because of her poise and abilities. Her confidence continued to rise as she competed in tournaments outside of high school against talented players around the state.
Sometimes a player reaches the top tier due to graduations, or by default because of another players poor play, but that wasn’t Lopez’s case.
“She’s earned her No. 1 spot,” Sandlin said of moving Lopez to the top spot during her junior season, ahead of some senior players.
The Los Fresnos coach has high expectations for his senior, and expects her to do pretty well in singles matches while hopefully reaching her goal of qualifying for the regional tournament.
In her final season, Lopez is focused on making that goal a reality.
“I want to make it to regionals, that’s my dream,” she said. “I’m really hoping I can accomplish that.”
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter, he’s @andrewmcrum.