Sports
Tiger tennis teams pick up wins
Friday, 19 October 2012 by Grayson Edds
Tiger Tennis added another two wins to their total with the matches against Shoemaker and Harker Heights this week. The Tigers defeated Shoemaker on Sept. 25 19-0, and Harker Heights on Sept. 28 16-3.
"The coach at Shoemaker is making strides," Tiger Tennis coach Kyle Larson said. "It was a pretty good match that we played overall. He's got some pretty good athletes, our kids were just ready to show up and they did what I expected – played well."
Harker Heights, however, gave the Tigers something to think about earlier in the year during pre-district play.
"It was one of the toughest matches from top to bottom," he said. "It was good for us because it showed the kids that they're going to have to fight for some matches. It was good for them to learn more about themselves, and hopefully that will carry over into our last three matches, Killeen, Temple, and Midway."
Seniors Dalton Spore and Zayn Evans did well in their No. 2 boys doubles match, Larson said.
"I'm impressed with how they've been playing," he said. "They've both taken to heart what we've talked about and worked on. They have high expectations of how they want the year to go. They haven't lost a match yet."
The first of Harker Height's wins was in the No. 2 girls doubles, a strength of the opposing team.
"They're athletic, they keep the ball in play, they get to everything and they get the ball over. It was a good reality check for our girls to get through it," Larson said.
Harker Heights also overcame Belton in the mixed doubles match, where Belton won the first set, but then let their guard down.
"Some of that is youth, and some of that is complacency," Larson said. "They fought hard through it, and came up on the short end, but it was close. We took the win overall, and hope that that's a lesson learned for the next go around."
The boys singles went well due to the depth of the talent of the boys, and Larson feels that their success is due to their motivation and hunger for wins. Belton took home all the wins during the boys singles, but girls singles let one slip by.
Larson praised the work of senior Katherine Burgess during the game because she's new to the varsity team, coming up from JV this year.
"She's worked hard and that match was a good one," he said. "It was a long, hard fight, but she came out on top. Seeing results like that is what makes coaching fun."
The Tigers are currently in the running for first place, and their next game will be at Temple on Friday.
