While Lyford’s Nick Martinez may have qualified for the UIL Class 3A state tennis tournament, a host of area athletes fell a bit short at regionals.
The Harlingen High mixed doubles team of David Gracia and Kaitlynn Jones started the day at the 6A regional meet in San Antonio Tuesday on a positive note with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over District 30-6A champions Andres Spinetti and Alexia Perez of McAllen Memorial.
However, the momentum failed to carry over to the semifinals where they lost to a fourth-seeded team from San Antonio Reagan 6-3, 6-2.
Harlingen’s Skylar Snell also fell short of a state berth. The junior lost her opening match to the District 31-6A champion Victoria Villanueva of Edinburg Vela 6-4, 6-2 in a hard-fought match.
“I thought my kids played really well overall, but were noticeably tight and seemed nervous at times,” said Harlingen High head coach Jay Tanamachi. “I think the more times you qualify, the more relaxed and less overwhelming it is so I’m hoping the experience this year will pay off for us next year, God willing we qualify again.”
At Harlingen South, a week after dominating the District 32-6A tennis meet in Weslaco, the Hawks failed to send any players to the state tournament.
South won all five divisions of competition at district, sending a remarkable 10 players to the Region IV-6A tournament.
In girls singles, Grace Bell defeated PSJA Memorial’s Priscilla Morales in her first match before losing to Sammi Gillas of New Braunfels in her second match of the day.
In boys singles, Adrian Mungia fell in his first match to Jesse Wikso of Lake Travis.
In girls doubles, Thiffany Yeupell and Jesse Alfaro defeated Edinburg Vela’s Laura Lopez and Noelani Castellano in their first match of the day. However, the duo dropped its next match to Hope Love and Marina Quetzeri from San Antonio Johnson.
In mixed doubles, Harlingen South’s Rudolfo Montero and Valeria Montero beat Laredo United’s Mark Morris and Kassandra Santoyo in their first-round match before falling to Zach Delmonico and Chari Delmonico of Austin Vandegrift.
Meanwhile, at the Region IV-4A meet in Corpus Christi earlier this week, La Feria also fell short of sending anyone to state.
Regional qualifiers included Carlos Gamboa in boys singles and the girls doubles teams of Ashley Avalos and Violeta Gamboa, and Angela Hernandez and Denise Garcia.