By ADAM KUJAWSKI, Staff Writer
The Hanna Golden Eagles finished in third place in District 32-6A, and coach Terry Hoover credits his strong girls team as the reason Hanna is in a playoff position.
The girls are 11-2 on the year, with their only losses coming to a top-10 San Antonio Johnson team and Harlingen South, which is ranked in the top 20.
Hoover thinks his team has a solid shot at making noise this postseason.
“I think we’re going to be very competitive with (District 31-5A),” he said. “We’ve played a couple of their teams (already this year), we’ve done pretty well against them and we’ve gotten a lot better as the year has gone on.”
Postseason matchups are yet to be determined and will remain as such until District 31-6A has completed its regular season.
SEEKING REVENGE: The Harlingen High Cardinals finished in second place this season in District 32-6A behind the Harlingen South Hawks and ahead of Hanna and the San Benito Greyhounds.
The Cardinals (12-4, 6-1) lost to Harlingen South in the semifinals of last year’s playoffs, and Harlingen High coach James Tanamachi hopes to avoid the Greyhounds for as long as possible.
“We’re seeded on the opposite side (of the bracket) from Harlingen South,” Tanamachi said. “I think our chances are better than last year.”
The Cardinals will lose three starting girls and two starting boys to graduation after this season. One of them is Sabrina Lopez, who recently defeated Harlingen South’s Ashley Ray 6-4, 6-4. Ray had taken second place in the District 32-5A girls singles tournament last spring.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Porter Cowboys will not play postseason tennis this season. Their regular season ended Saturday, and since District 32-5A only sends one team to the regional tournament, Porter’s record will prevent it from moving on.
In order to be more competitive this year, coach Jaime Guillen needed more production from his boys, a dilemma he knew would be a factor.
“Several of (the boys) were beginners,” he said. “Last year we lost a lot of our top players. I only had two boys returning.”
In an effort to get his younger players more experience. Guillen’s Cowboys will start the individual season in two weeks when his team travels to San Benito for a tournament.
Adam Kujawski covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter he’s @adamkujo1.
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