Tennis sending two teams to State

Four Wimberley tennis players are headed to the UIL State Tournament as part of two doubles teams to make it through Regionals last week.

The Boys Doubles team of Landon Kirchner and Tristan Anderson placed second as did the Girls Doubles team of Sydney Wright and Madi Elliott. The top two teams advance to the state tournament.

On the first day of the Regional tournament, Kirchner and Anderson started out hot.

“They were playing tennis like I haven’t seen them play all year,” Tennis Coach Lauren Huse said. “They started peaking at the right time.”

The first match against Raymondville was won 6-0, 6-1. The second match versus Fulshear was won 6-0, 6-3. The final match of the first day of the tournament against Hondo was won 6-1, 6-1.

On Friday, Wimberley played Fredericksburg in what turns out to be the Regional finals. It was the same team Kirchner and Anderson played against in the district finals. Fredericksburg won the first set in a tiebreaker. Wimberley took the second set in a tiebreaker before Fredericksburg won the third set 3-6. Wimberley was not forced to compete in a playback after the rest of the tournament giving them second place and a trip to the state tournament.

The Girls Doubles team of Sydney Wright and Madi Elliott saw a similar path through the tournament.

“They woke up and had one of the best warm ups I think I have had in a while,” Huse said. “They were excited and full of energy.”

The first match was a tough draw for Wimberley. Liberty Hill was considered one of the favorites of the tournament even though they had a lower seed than a favorite would typically have.

“They were a team we would have expected to meet in the semi-finals,” Huse said.

Wimberley won the first set 6-4 and ended the match with a 6-2 victory over a tough team. A 7-6 tiebreaker win in the first set against Hondo lined Wimberley up for another victory with a 6-2 finish. The Texans dispatched Warton in three sets in a match with high tensions.

“In the second set there was a bit of an altercation with the other team,” Huse said. “ They hit a ball right at one of our kids faces. I don’t know if we got mad or upset, but we had a mental flaw in that second match. But (our team) regrouped themselves and came out for the third. We played to win, and we did.”

The win pushed Wimberley into a finals birth against Boerne.

Boerne, who won the state championship last year, was the team the Wimberley Girls Doubles faced for the district championship, making for another rematch.

Wimberley lost in two sets to finish in second place in Regionals but they gained a birth to the state tournament.

The UIL State Tennis Tournament will be held on May 16 and 17 at Texas A&M University in College Station. The initial matches have not yet been set.