As district play comes to an end next week, the Tiger varsity team took on Pine Tree at the Texas High courts on Tuesday. The team has an overall record of 8-4 so far this year.
Texas High Tennis instructor, Coach Watson, knows the potential that these players have and wants to help them build their game and stay mentally strong in the match.
“I believe we’ve come together more as a team this year,” Watson said. “We’ve kind of bonded more and really kind of pulled each other through some really tough matches this fall. I would say we really have been more of a unit together as a team this year, more than others.”
The Tigers started really well with their doubles matches, none of them lost a set nor more than four games in their doubles matches. Doubles partners Ricky Luna and Allan Miller were on a hot streak as they were hitting winners right on the singles line and finishing points with quick, hard volleys.
“Pine Tree had some really good points that they executed really well, and Alan and I had some trouble in the beginning,” Luna said. “But we then got into the rhythm and we were getting balls back in play, getting more quality.”
As the Tigers quickly finished their doubles matches, they continued the momentum and brought the consistency from their double matches to singles.
Almost every Tiger got past their singles matches in straight sets. Alan Miller sealed his match in three sets. Miller took the first set 6-3, and continued to play the aggressive tennis that he played in the first into the second. Miller lost the second set 6-4 as the unforced errors increased.
“It was a really tough match. In the beginning I kind of struggled because my opponent didn’t hit a lot of pace in his shots,” Miller said. “I think I just needed to swing my shots, keep my confidence up and play through it, and it really got me the momentum back after the second set to finish it in the tiebreak.” Miller won his match in a ten-point tiebreaker in the third set 10-7.
Texas High came out on-top and finished with the score of 22-0 and are now 5-1 in district play. The Tigers will finish their District play next week on home soil against Tyler.
