By ANDREW CRUM, Staff Writer
LOS FRESNOS — St. Joseph Academy found repeat success, and Porter won a marathon match at this year’s Los Fresnos Invitational.
The Bloodhounds’ top singles player, Fernando Alvarez, and the boys doubles team of Jose Alvarez and Mauricio Hage successfully defended their titles and the Cowgirls girls doubles team of Diana Amaro and Sonia Grimaldo outlasted Weslaco High’s girls doubles team during a nearly four-hour, three-set finale during the finals of the Los Fresnos tennis tournament on Saturday.
Fernando Alvarez defeated Travis Walther of Harlingen High, 7-5, 6-7 (7-5), and 6-3 in a matchup of two of the top boys players in the Rio Grande Valley. A tired, but happy Fernando Alvarez had to battle during every set.
“It feels good,” he said. “I just remained calm. I played intelligent. In the third set, many of the games were 40-all, it was like flipping a coin, whoever wins the point wins the game, it was very fun.”
Teammates Jose Alvarez and Hage had an equally tough match against Breyer Tice and Colin Gilloon of Harlingen South, but prevailed after dropping the first set, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3.
“We made a good comeback, we lost the first set horribly,” Jose Alvarez said.” We got more aggressive in the second set and in the third set. I felt the pressure (in the first set), we won last year and I didn’t want to lose. Playing aggressive is my game and the result was very good.”
St. Joseph coach Oscar Garza said his boys were able to remain calm even when they were struggling.
“They kept their cool at the pressure points,” he said. “They managed to stay poised under pressure and managed to pull the match out.
“They played well; we’re very proud of them.”
Amaro and Grimaldo had to fight through a tiring match that lasted a couple hours into the afternoon. They finally earned a win over Weslaco High’s Katlyn Kuruda and Hannah Diaz, 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6).
“In the second set, we didn’t cooperate with each other and had a lot of bad shots,” Amaro said. “We played smart and never gave up.”
Top-seeded Valeria Montero of Harlingen South took the girls singles title over Larissa Lopez of Los Fresnos, 6-0, 6-1.
“I had trouble with my backhand, but she was really good,” Lopez said of Montero and expects to face her again at the district tournament next month in Harlingen. “I look forward to it, but I know what I need to work on.”
Harlingen High’s Jacob Canales and Devin Sanchez won the mixed doubles title over Hanna’s Luis Aguirre and Jessica Sosa, 6-3, 6-0.
Harlingen South earned the team title with 101 points; Hanna was second with 98 points, followed by St. Joseph (97) and Harlingen High (96), and Los Fresnos (86).
Andrew Crum covers sports for The Brownsville Herald. You can reach him at (956) 982-6629 or via email at [email protected]. On Twitter, he’s @andrewmcrum.