Marble Falls tennis beats Salado to qualify for playoffs

CAPTION: Sophomore Cooper Womack continues his impressive record with wins at No. 1 boys singles and No. 1 boys doubles with partner Weston York. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

The Marble Falls High School team tennis squad defeated Salado 13-6 Sept. 7 to earn a berth in the Class 4A playoffs.

The Mustangs have one round left — at Burnet Sept. 21 — to determine which seed they have going into the District 19-4A tournament that begins Sept. 28. The district tournament will determine the order in which the four teams enter the playoffs as the champion, the runner-up, third place and fourth place.

“It’s expected,” head coach Sam Whitley said of the postseason berth. “We accomplished that goal (in 2022). Even though it’s a big deal, my goal is to get further. So we want to be the highest seed we can coming out of district.”

Whitley said the district competition is fierce. He noted Lago Vista, which is in first place, barely beat Marble Falls 10-9 and the Mustangs blew out Belton New Tech 17-3. Lago Vista defeated New Tech 11-8.

“Every week is different, every opponent is different,” the coach said. “Our goal is to win 10 matches, period. There’s a lot of competition. Our goal is to get 10 wins, whether that’s 6-0, 6-0 or third-set tiebreakers. Against Lago Vista, there were eight tiebreakers, and we won five. Our goals is to win 10 (matches). After that, it’s icing on the cake.”

Whitley noted Salado made Marble Falls earn the wins.

“They are a much improved team from last year,” he said. “Both the boys and girls played in fairly close matches. Our No. 1s and No. 2s seem to take care of business. Our middle-of-the-road players had some good matches and lost some, and our lower-seeded players did well. Salado has gotten a lot better. “

Marble Falls welcomes Mason, a Class 2A powerhouse that has won 111 state titles, to the Charlie and Nancy Herrington Tennis Center on the high school campus at 4:30 pm. Tuesday, Sept. 12.

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RESULTS

Marble Falls beat Salado 13-6

Boys

Singles

Cooper Womack def. McIntosh 6-1, 6-2; Weston York def. Chtay 6-0, 6-4; Cooper Kelley def. Anderson 6-1, 6-1; Payton Glaser lost to Eldridge 6-7 (4-7), 3-6; Marshall Naumann defe. Hernandez 7-5, 6-3; Landon Farris def. Drigallo 6-2, 6-0.

Doubles

Womack and York def. Anderson and Chtay 6-2, 6-2; Riley Stence and Collin Schilling def. Eldridge and Hernandez 6-1, 6-0; N. Smith and S. Smith def. Neas and Drigallo 6-1, 6-3.

Girls

Singles

Sophia Trudeau lost to Rose 1-6, 2-6; Nevaeh Nelson (Montoya) def. Edwards 6-1, 6-3; Chloe Brown lost to Yahner 6-7 (8-6), 3-6; Elin Gosselink def. Morgan 6-1, 6-2; Mia Hernandez lost to Farris 2-6, 2-6; Chloe Taylor def. Glossup 1-6, 6-3, 10-6

Doubles

Gosselink and Brown def. Edwards and Yohner 6-4, 6-2; Hernandez and Trudeau won; Taylor and Morales lost to Glossup and Farris 0-6, 2-6

Mixed doubles

Cooper Kelley and Nevaeh Nelson (Montoya) lost to McIntosh and Rose 2-6, 2-6