By Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
Del Rio’s fall tennis team had visions of a trip to the region’s Final Four when it departed for Uvalde Tuesday morning.
All that was standing in the team’s way was a Laredo Alexander team that Del Rio had beaten already once this season.
In the end, though, the fortunes weren’t smiling on Del Rio as the team’s run in the state playoffs ended with a tough 10-9 loss to the Bulldogs. Del Rio finishes its season 16-4 and as Class 6A, Region IV Area champions.
“They were so close!!!!” Del Rio head tennis coach Nolan Pritchard said via text message Tuesday evening.
The scores back Pritchard’s exasperation. Three of the matches Del Rio lost went three sets. Two of those matches saw Del Rio players come back from being down one set to force the third set.
The Queens set the tone for the team as a whole. In girls singles, Del Rio went 4-2. In doubles, Del Rio’s girls went 3-0.
Del Rio’s No. 1 ranked female, Andrea Favela, was a straight set winner in singles, 6-1, 6-2. Alejandra Solar, Del Rio’s No. 2, also won in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.
Marian Garcia won 7-5, 6-4; and Reagan Treviño rolled to a 6-0, 6-3 win.
Kennedy Treviño and Dana Mijangos dropped their singles matches in straight sets.
Two of the three matches in girls doubles were straight set victories.
Solar and Mijangos won 6-1, 6-4; and the Treviño sisters won 6-2, 6-3.
Favela and Garcia won their first set, 6-4, but Alexander came back to take the second set, 7-5. In the third set, Del Rio’s team won a slugfest, 10-7.
In boys singles, Jose “Pepe” Castañeda won in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4. He was the only Del Rio player in that group to notch a win.
Ricardo Mejia, Roger Montemayor and Alexander Beattie each lost in straight sets. Of that trio, Beattie was the only one to win a game in their loss.
Max Camarena, Del Rio’s No. 1 boys player, dropped his first set, 6-3, but came back to win his second set, 6-4. In the third set, Camarena and his Alexander opponent battled back and forth in a battle of attrition before Camarena finally succumbed, 12-10, to drop the third set and the match.
William Proffit, Del Rio’s No. 2 on the boys side, won his first set, 6-2, but fell 6-2 in the second set. In the third set, Proffit couldn’t keep pace with his Alexander opponent and went down, 10-5, and lost his match.
In boys doubles, Camarena and Proffit lost their opening set, 6-3, but the duo bounced back to take the second set, 6-1, and then finished off the match with a 10-5 win in the third set.
Castañeda and Mejia nearly mimicked Camarena and Proffit’s performance. Castañeda and Mejia lost their first set, 6-2, but then came back to take the second set, 6-2. In the third set, though, Alexander was too tough and took the match with a 10-4 win.
Jacob Moss and Montemayor lost their match, 6-0, 6-0.
In mixed doubles, Beattie and Analiz Rodriguez lost in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4.
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Contact the author at drnhsports@gmail.com
