High Schools, Other Sports

All three Austin area qualifiers reach team tennis state finals 

Wimberley's Gwen Pierce returns a ball during the Class 4A girls doubles quarterfinals at the 2023 UIL spring tennis sate tournaments. (Ricardo Da Silva/ MaxPreps)
Wimberley’s Gwen Pierce returns a ball during the Class 4A girls’ doubles quarterfinals at the 2023 UIL spring tennis state tournament. Pierce was one of four girls singles players to aid the Texans in their comeback victory in a Class 4A semifinal on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, in Waco. (Ricardo Da Silva/ MaxPreps)

From staff reports

WACO – Three Austin area teams will look to make it a Capital City trifecta today in the finals of the University Interscholastic League state team tennis tournament at the Waco Regional Tennis Center in Waco. . 

Ih Thursday’s semifinal action, Westwood cruised to a 10-1 win over The Woodlands to reach the Class 6A final, Austin LASA defeated Boerne Champion 10-4 to advance to the Class 5A final, and Wimberley held off a comeback attempt by Canyon Randall to win 10-7 and make the Class 4A final. 

For Austin LASA, this will be the Raptors first state championship appearance at the UIL team tennis tournament. LASA lost to defending state champion Amarillo in last year’s Class 5A semifinal. The Raptors (20-0) will face Frisco Centennial (22-2) in today’s championship at 3 p.m. 

Westwood (16-0) is looking for a repeat and will defend its state championship against Houston Memorial (16-0) in the Class 6A finals. The Warriors defeated Memorial 10-0 in last year’s 6A championship match. The 6A final is set to begin at 8 a.m. 

Wimberley (14-6) will play for its second Class 4A state championship in three years. The Texans defeated Argyle 10-7 in the 2021 4A final. Wimberley will face Kaufman (24-3) for the Class 4A state championship at 11:30 a.m. 

Here’s a recap of Wednesday’s semifinals: 

(Class 6A) Westwood 10, The Woodlands 1: The Warriors led 6-1 after doubles matches, only losing the mixed doubles point. In singles Action, Leon Chen and Daniel Zhang won their boys singles matches, 6-1, 6-0 and 6-0, 6-2, respectively.  Lilly Wang and Simryn Jacob sealed the win by picking up girls singles points. 

(Class 5A) Austin LASA 10, Boerne Champion 4: The Raptors took a slim 4-3 lead going into doubles action, and got singles wins from Claire Zhou and Sanwi Sarode in girls singles matches, while William Gu, Nash Baldridge, Harrison Chambers and Mahir Vallabheaneni brought home boys singles wins to nab the victory. LASA only lost one of seven singles points. 

(Class 4A) Wimberley 10, Canyon Randall 8: The Texans found themselves trailing 5-2 going into singles matches, but rallied with eight singles victories to advance to the championship match. In boys singles, Marcus Gonzales, Finn Mignerey, Drew Vinson, and Joe Sheffield added four points with their wins. Ella Malone, Lea Martin, Kate Carson, and Gwen Pierce sealed the comeback with their girls singles victories. 

Today’s schedule

All games at Waco Regional Tennis Center, Waco 

Class 6A final (8 a.m.): Westwood (16-0) vs. Houston Memorial (16-0)

Class 4A final (11:30 a.m.): Kaufman (24-3) vs Wimberley (14-6) 

Class 3A final (3 p.m.): Austin LASA (20-0) vs. Frisco Centennial (22-2)