Tennis players from around the Texas Panhandle competed in the UIL state tennis tournament Thursday and Friday on courts across the city of San Antonio and brought home a slew of medals including four golds.
Class 5A
Amarillo High duo captures state title
From the beginning of the year, Amarillo High’s girls doubles duo of Sara Shelhamer and Olivia Hefley were seen as a legitimate contender for a gold medal. Despite only losing two matches all season long, the road to a state title is filled with a litany of great teams, so it took an extraordinary effort from the Sandies’ duo to walk away state champions.
[tds_partial_locker tds_locker_id=”26894″]In the semifinals against Frisco Centennial’s pair of Kritika Voruganti and Sahasra Dodda, they found themselves up 5-3 in the first set before losing four straight games and the first set, 7-5. Things didn’t get better in the second set as they were down 0-2 and staring at the possibility of an exit sooner than they wanted. However, that type of run didn’t faze them. They rallied back and found themselves serving for set twice but were unable to capitalize on that advantage.
That pushed the netters to a critical tiebreaker where they lost the first point but then reeled off six straight points and closed out the the tiebreak, 7-2. Using the momentum from a second set win, Shelhamer and Hefley stayed tough to finally pull off the third set, 6-3, in a match that lasted more than three hours.
“Sara is such a leader” Amarillo High head coach Cody Crouch said. “She’s like having another coach on the court and that type of leadership is big in crucial matches like that”.
In the finals, the duo was considered underdogs to the higher ranked squad from Frisco Wakeland in Ella Wertz and Dylan Liebhardt. Unfazed, the Sandies pair was on fire in the first set and took it convincingly, 6-2. The crowd from Amarillo High was starting to smell gold as they were up 4-3 in the second set and were serving. However, they had their serve broke, and Wakeland held serve to go up 5-4 then broke Amarillo High’s serve again to split sets with a 6-4 second set win.
Shelhamer and Hefley once again found that first set magic and raced out to a 5-1 third set lead with gold within reach. However, the Wakeland squad refused to back down and cut the lead to 5-4 when a pivotal moment arose.
After playing several deuces, the two squads fired shots at each other before Wakeland appeared to hit a winner on a well angled shot. Hefley, a freshman playing on the state’s biggest stage, could have simply let the shot go but she refused to give up.
“Olivia didn’t didn’t act like a freshman,” Crouch said. “She’s won over eighty matches this year and she simply played incredible”.
Hefley’s play on the biggest point of the match turned out to be pivotal. She broke well on the shot and reached out near the fence to try and return the shot. Unfortunately for Wakeland, both their fans and coaches began to erupt on what they thought was a winner.
As Hefley stretched for the ball, the Wakeland coach interfered with her ability to try and get a return which was ruled coaches interference and an automatic point for Amarillo High. That turn of events left the Sandies serving for the match and, after a ten-ball rally, the pair nailed the final point and match to claim gold.
Amarillo High wasn’t the only AISD school to earn a medal at the state tournament. Tascosa’s Bradley Brown and True Rush knocked off the top seed from region IV with a thrilling three set victory before falling in the semifinals to Caleb and Hannah Hobbs from Midlothian, 6-4, 6-4, to earn a third place finish.
Class 4A
Randall roars back for gold medal
All eyes were on the mixed doubles matchup in the state championship as it was a rematch of the district and regional title between Kynley Craddock and Jensen Betzen of Randall and Hannah Terry and Cooper Richardson of Canyon.
The Randall pair had won both times but the Canyon duo had closed the gap each time.
Canyon raced out to a 4-2 lead in the first set and were up 30-love when the championship pedigree of Craddock and hard working Betzen turned the tide.
Rallying back, Randall took the first set 6-4 and never looked back.
“You have to be your best when your best is required.” Randall head coach Darby Norman said.
The Class 4A state champs finished the season at 38-1 with their only loss to the eventual Class 5A title team from Grapevine. Everyone knows about the exploits of Craddock, but Norman was thrilled with the play of Betzen.
“Jensen has stepped up and played amazing this spring,” Norman said. “He’s put in the time and effort to make his game better and that hard work paid off”.
For Craddock, a Hardin-Simmons signee, this capped one of the most storied tennis resumes in the state.
The win was the fifth gold medal in her career and seventh overall.
“Kynley is absolutely amazing” Norman said. “Kynley may have achieved more in tennis than any other player in the state. She simply has the ability to rise to the occasion every single time.”
The boys doubles team of Austin Schoenenberger and Kale Morton earned a bronze medal on Friday after winning a split set decision over Riley Buck and Ethan van Andel of Lindale, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. Schoenenberger and Morton fell in the semifinals to Bowen Young and Koushal Damacharla 6-1, 6-4 to notch a third-place finish.
Class 1A
Sister duo wins gold for Nazareth
For the first time since 2019, Nazareth is bringing home gold in girls doubles.
The Swifts netters had dominated from 2017 to 2019 before a six-year drought was finally ended thanks to the sister duo of Madison and Kate Brockman.
The pair was eager to atone for a semifinal loss last year and that desire was evident as they quickly dispatched of teams from Irion County and Buena Vista to make the finals. On the other side of the net was one half of the team from Nueces Canyon that defeated them in the semifinals last year in Gabriella Luce and her new partner, Ariel Shipman.
In a tight first set, the Nueces Canyon team made a few more shots when it counted to take the first set, 6-4.
“I liked the way we played in that first set” Nazareth head coach Taylor Schulte. “I told the girls we just needed to be a little more aggressive at the net and push the ball forward.”
Those words sparked the Brockman sisters as they won several big rallies to take the second set, 6-2, and force a third set. Using that positivity, they raced out to a 4-1 lead. That fast start was pivotal.
“You gain momentum with a quick start,” Schulte said. “We were up 3-1 and cashed in after several deuces to get that important fourth game.”
After the Nueces Canyon duo cut the lead to 4-2, the Nazareth pair won their serve and shut the door as the older sister, Madison, hit a screaming shot down the line to clinch gold with a 6-2 third set win.
Along with the Brockman sisters, Nazareth’s Zane Schulte and Rhett Ethridge brought home a bronze medal in boys doubles. The pair beat Knippa in straight sets in the quarterfinals before falling to Sanderson in the semifinals but earning a bronze medal with a third-place finish.
Texas Panhandle Class 1A tennis players were 4-for-4 in gold medal games on Friday, but the gold won by the Valley boys doubles team won was the least expected. Despite finishing second in the region, Carson Tucker and Damian Valdes won one of the more shocking golds at the state tennis tournament.
“Those guys just amaze me” Valley head coach Greg Ramsey said. “They are kind of boys that refuse to lose”.
That comment epitomized their semifinal win over Grady’s Knight Durham and Camden Wiebe.
Valley was down 5-2 in the first set and rallied back for a 7-3 tiebreaker win to take the first set. Unable to capitalize on that run, the Patriots netters fell behind 5-1 in the second set before reeling off six straight games and an appearance in the finals.
In that gold medal match, Valley was facing Asa Coyan and William Guillen from Sanderson and Ramsey knew they would have to play smart to win.
Using a steady diet of top spins, cut serves and lobs, Tucker and Valdes frustrated the Sanderson pair and grabbed the first set, 6-0. Coyan and Guillen seized momentum in the second set but Valley refused to be rattled.
Despite falling behind in that second set, the pair stayed the course and pulled out a 6-4 second set win to wrap gold medals around their necks. It also marked the second gold for both as they were pivotal parts of the Valley basketball teams gold medal run in March.
Ramsey, the soft-spoken coach, was choked up talking about his players.
“I can’t tell you how much those boys mean to me,” Ramsey said. “I grew up and graduated from Valley and those kids represent what a Valley Patriot is. They compete and leave it all out there.”
State quick hits
It was quite a run for Vega’s girls doubles team of Hannah and Rachel Adams. The duo picked up a split set victory over a team from Gary in the first round before winning both tiebreakers in a straight set win over Seymour.
That put them in the semifinals against Taylor Bierschwale and Kinley Wenzel from Mason. After falling 6-2 in the first set, Hannah and Rachel mounted a comeback and looked like they may take the second set before falling in a tiebreaker, 7-2. Despite the loss, the Vega netters earned a bronze medal in Class 2A.
Shallowater’s Riley Criswell also earned a bronze medal on Friday. The Mustangs netter won his quarterfinal match against Cub Quintero of London, 7-6 (7), 6-4. Criswell fought hard against the eventual state champion, Jaron Page of Central Heights, before dropping a 7-6 (6), 6-2 decision.
Check out the results
For a look at all the scores from the UIL state tennis tournament, please visit https://www.uiltexas.org/tennis/state/brackets
