DAVE FAVILA | Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — Just call the Harlingen South Hawks area champions.
On Tuesday, the South team tennis squad easily defeated crosstown rival Harlingen High 10-2 to win the District 31-6A/32-6A area tournament.
The win marked the Hawks’ second win over the Cardinals this season as they won an earlier match against the Cards 19-0.
“We played well today,” said Hawks head coach Noe Stillman. “It was kind of hard to get up for the match because we had beaten them before, but I liked what I saw out there and we did real well.”
With the victory, the Hawks now advance to the Region IV-6A tournament set for Oct. 30-31 at the Northside Tennis Center and Annemarie Tennis Center in San Antonio.
And although the Cardinals lost Tuesday, they also advanced to regionals since they finished as the No. 2 team in the area.
The Hawks have been regulars at the Region IV tournament in recent years, but have not been able to break though to state because teams such as San Antonio Reagan and New Braunfels usually dominate the competition.
And Stillman doesn’t expect that trend to change this year.
“We lost to both Reagan and New Braunfels earlier this season so we know how good they are,” Stillman said. “However, Reagan can be beat and you just don’t know what to expect out of New Braunfels because Reagan beat them at one point during the season.
“Realistically, I’d like to make it to the finals. If we do that, I’ll be happy.”
Only the winner of the regional tournament advances to the state tournament, which is set for Nov. 11 and 12 at Texas A&M University.
New Braunfels has indeed been the cream of the crop in Region IV lately, advancing to state 11 times and winning seven championships, including seven in a row from 2007-13. Last year it had its streak snapped as it lost to Dallas Highland Park in the state finals.