Gabby Dishong, Randall tennis, Jr.
On the court: Moving into the number one spot for the Raiders this season, Dishong has been rock solid all season long. She teamed up with Micah Perkins to go 30-2 on the year in doubles and matched that record in singles to lead the Raiders to a UIL Region I-4A team tennis title.
The road to the regional title was smooth sailing as the talented junior with a solid forehand didn’t lose a match through the playoffs but found herself in a super tiebreak with Brooke Rebstock of Canyon in the finals. After cruising to a 6-2 first set win, she dropped set two, 6-1. That’s when Dishong turned up her play and grabbed an important 10-6 victory to help the Raiders bring home a second straight regional title.
Coach Darby Norman: “Gabby has been amazing all year long. In our biggest match of the year, facing Canyon for the third time this season, she didn’t have her best, but she found a way to get us two wins. She teamed with her doubles partner to grab a big win and then rallied after splitting sets to pick up a key singles win in the super tiebreaker. She spilled some guts as we like to say to get those two wins.”
Dishong: “We knew the road this year was going to be much harder and, honestly, I was a little bit nervous about moving up from No. 3 to that top player role. Not necessarily because of the playing aspect but because it’s a leadership role. I’ve never been in a leadership role before, but it helped playing with Ella Hester last year. She’s one of the greatest leaders I’ve ever been around, and I used that as my model to step into that role.
“It’s tough playing Canyon because we know them so well. In the first set I was on and got the jump on Brooke. In the second set, something turned for her and she found another gear against me to split sets. As we headed to the super tiebreak all I could think of was our lone senior, Bryson Shelton, might be going home in the regional finals. I knew I had to figure it out and I found my forehand again and used that to go deep into the backhand corner which was my strategy. I had to take each point and each shot one at a time and that helped me pull out the win.”
About Dishong
Favorite band or musician: Morgan Wallen
Favorite social media platform: Instagram
Favorite athlete: Novak Djokovic
Bet you didn’t know: She likes to create digital art.
Parents: Ken and Jennifer Dishong