District 32-6A caught a break from team tennis competition last week due to the threat of inclement weather but returned to action Monday as the season nears its end.
Coach Tyrone Powers and the Hanna Golden Eagles expect to have their hands full as they continue district play on the road at 5 p.m. today against Los Fresnos.
The Golden Eagles were 1-0 heading into their match against Harlingen South on Monday and will be looking to improve their record before their final match against the Harlingen High Cardinals on Sept. 25.
“We’ve gotten better,” Powers said. “Our boys have matured. They’re getting a little better. Our strength is our girls. We have some strong girls in our team, but our boys are getting a little better. We have a tough fight against Harlingen South, Los Fresnos and San Benito because they have good boys. My boys are going to have to step up a little bit.”
The Hanna coach said the Golden Eagles are ready and eager to get better in every match as competition in District 32-6A won’t be easy, especially against schools such as Harlingen South.
“They’re probably one of the top 20 teams in the state,” Powers said. “They’re loaded, boys and girls. Our girls can compete; our boys are going to find a way. The other teams, we’re pretty matched evenly with them, so it’s going to be a tough fight with them.”
Hanna will rely strongly on its girls side to get the wins it needs. Schools in team tennis competition must win 10 out of 19 matches to secure the overall victory.
During their match against Rivera earlier this month, the Hanna girls won all of their matches.
The ultimate goal for the Golden Eagles is making it to the playoffs, which they hope to achieve this season.
“We’ll know within the next week because the following Tuesday we play Harlingen (High), so we’ll know where we stand within a week,” Powers said.
The Golden Eagles also will face San Benito at 5 p.m. Thursday at Hanna.
GETTING BETTER
Coach William Sandlin is confident in the Los Fresnos Falcons’ ability going forward, as they have shown improvement as the season has gone on.
The Falcons were scheduled to battle the Harlingen High Cardinals on Monday.
Los Fresnos’ overall record before its match against Harlingen High was 1-1, with a 19-0 victory over the Rivera Raiders and an 18-1 loss to Harlingen South.
“(Harlingen High has) always been very tough,” Sandlin said, ahead of the match against the Cardinals. “The Harlingen schools have good tennis players. I’m looking forward to the matchup. I think my kids have a good chance, and we’ll just have to see what happens out there in the court.”
Sandlin is a former Cardinals player himself and said he and the Falcons appreciate good competition, as it has and continues to help the team grow.
“My players are doing very well,” Sandlin said. “We have pretty good veteran players this year. They’ve been with me for a while now and improving every year. We’ve been set pretty well on both the girls and boys side.”
For the remainder of the season, Sandlin said the focus in practice will be working on the fundamentals and aiming to make it to the playoffs.
“We’re going to work on our footwork,” he said. “We’re going to work on our focus during matches and just improving our techniques, trying to get better.”
STILL FIGHTING
The Rivera Raiders may have a 0-2 record, but still have plenty of fight left in them.
“The kids are fighting,” coach Daniel Espinosa said. “We got some wins against Hanna and a couple of wins against Harlingen. We have a few wins that our top players have secured; they’ve played well.”
Although the team has come up short in capturing an overall win, some of the Raiders, such as Rivera No. 1 Matthew Guevara, have won big matches in the top slots against Harlingen High and Hanna.
Not only that, the top players, such as Guevara and Rivera No. 1 girl Elvia Zamora, have begun to take on leadership roles to motivate fellow Raiders and improve together.
“What we’ve been doing in practice since August and working at, they started using in their matches to win some points and some games also,” Espinosa said. “We’re coming up a little short in matches in general as a team but we’re getting the points; we’re getting the games and some sets and, hopefully, we’ll start getting more sets and matches pretty soon.”
The Raiders will have two home matches at 5 p.m. this week as they face off against San Benito today and Harlingen South on Wednesday.
“We were able to get a little practice in (on Thursday) before the rain came,” Espinosa said. “We’re feeling comfortable, and we’re hoping the kids get out there and play if the weather allows. We have one more day of practice on Monday, and we should be ready to play (today).”