Harlingen South’s Jeremiah Gonzalez defeated Jack Wang of McAllen High 7-6, 6-2 on Wednesday to capture his second consecutive boys’ singles Region IV-6A tennis title and return to the UIL state tournament for the fourth year in a row.
Gonzalez breezed through the competition at regionals, which was held Tuesday and Wednesday at McFarland Tennis Center in San Antonio.
In the regional finals, Gonzalez simply overwhelmed Wang with aggressive play.
“He played well and really committed to playing his game, and he served big,” said South head tennis coach Noe Stillman of his senior sensation. “If he plays aggressive tennis at state, he has as good of a chance as anyone.”
The UIL state tournament is set for May 16-17 at the Mitchell Tennis Center and Omar Smith Instructional Tennis Courts on the campus of Texas A&M University.
While this is Gonzalez’s fourth straight trip to state, this year marks his second consecutive trip as a singles qualifier.
At last year’s state competition, Gonzalez fell in the quarterfinals to Colin Markes of Round Rock in a tough 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 match. Markes lost in the next round to the eventual 2015 state champ Nathan Brown of El Paso Coronado.
In 2014, Gonzalez qualified as part of a mixed doubles team with Caitlyn Resendez. The duo also lost in the quarterfinals to a team from Lewisville Marcus that fell in the semifinals to that year’s state title winners.
Finally, as a freshman in 2013, Gonzalez made it to state as part of a doubles squad with Devin Kyral. The team fell in the quarterfinals to a team from Houston Memorial 6-2, 6-4.