KEVIN NARRO | Staff Writer
HARLINGEN—The Harlingen South tennis team checked in another solid year at the district 32-6A meet this week.
After Wednesday’s action, the meet was forced to move from Harlingen High to Harlingen South due to rainy conditions.
After about an hour delay, South finished what they started.
South swept in the boys singles with Adrian Mungia and Victor Rinheanu finishing in first and second, respectively.
Mungia edged out his own teammate in the finals, 6-2, 6-1. Rinheanu punched his ticket to regionals in a true second match win over Los Fresnos’ Dennis Vatchev.
In girl’s singles, senior Valeria Montero won her fourth straight district title, defeating Kayla Ortiz, 6-0, 6-2..
“I don’t see this as an ending, I see this more as just the beginning,” Montero said. “Now, I have regionals up next and then hopefully prepare for state. It is a little special to win district because it is my last one, but at the same time, I expect to win district and now I hope I can do well enough to qualify for state.”
Montero is no stranger to being at the top.
Over her career, she won district as a freshman in singles, mixed doubles as a sophomore and girl’s doubles as a junior.
“I feel now that I have plenty experience going into the regional meet,” Montero said. “I know what to expect now. It is really tough from all the different schools, but again, the experience for me is what is going to help.”
In boy’s doubles, Chris Rayner and Billy Yeupell sealed their win over Harlingen High’s Dalton Mann and Luke Alvarado, 6-2, 6-1.
“We played some good doubles and played quality matches, we just needed to keep our heads in the game,” Yeupell said. “We needed to make sure to limit our mistakes and keep the ball in play and just do what we do. It was frustrating having to wait around because of the weather, but we did our best to not let that get to us and we just kept our focus.”
In girl’s doubles, South will send Autumn Turribiates and Kennedy Kibler to the regional meet. The duo picked up a win over Hanna’s Sophia Deleon and Desirae Diaz, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.
In mixed doubles, Matt Cavazos and Kara LeMarr came out on top and in second place came Will Bell and Kelley Yeupell. Cavazos and LeMarr outgunned their teammates Bell and Yeupell, 6-3, 6-2.
As for the Cardinals, Mann and Alvarado qualified for the regional meet in boy’s doubles. The trip to the regional meet is a first for the duo.