This year, the Strake Jesuit tennis team finally had the depth to win a district championship.

Now the Crusaders are hoping there’s enough quality in a small quantity to make a run to the state tournament.

Two weeks after winning their first district title since joining the University Interscholastic League five years ago, the Crusaders have three participants in the Region III tournament Tuesday and Wednesday at Deer Park.

Senior David Heckler will participate in singles, and the team of junior Dan Morris and freshman Abraham Hsu won the 17-5A tournament to advance in doubles.

Their stories vary. Heckler, the product of a tennis-crazy family, made regionals in doubles last year but made a desired switch to singles this year. Morris is firmly dedicated to doubles, and Hsu was a pleasant surprise, accomplishing the rare feat of making the Crusaders’ varsity team as a freshman.

Heckler is the son of United States Professional Tennis Association CEO Tim Heckler and Renee Tamborello, who won a state doubles title at Houston Lee in 1981. David Heckler will attend the Sanchez-Casal Academy in Barcelona, Spain, beginning this fall and will play throughout Europe next year before returning to the United States to play tennis collegiately. He won the Cy-Fair tournament earlier this year and placed second in the 46-team Fort Bend tournament.

“He’s been working the points to his advantage this year,” Strake Jesuit coach Chuck Kenny said. “Early on in high school he wanted to overpower the ball. Now he doesn’t do that as much; he makes better shot selections. He runs down every ball. He’s not going to beat himself.”

Heckler lost one match in the fall, to Cypress Creek’s Austin Brooks. A possible meeting with another player who defeated him, Fort Bend Austin’s Beau Bernstein, looms in the quarterfinal round.

“I got third in regionals (in doubles) last year. This is my last chance (to make state),” Heckler said.

Morris and Hsu have been a doubles team practically the entire season. Kenny called Morris “our most consistent player” who has embraced his doubles role; Hsu, a Taiwan native who has played tennis since age 7, is ranked No. 16 in the USTA’s Super 14 rankings.

“I like the team aspect of doubles,” Morris said. “We (Morris and Hsu) have built a lot of confidence all season. … Abraham makes creative shots and he always plays the ball well. I’m more consistent and I think I place the ball well.”

Another doubles team, Alejandro Nazario and Luis Nunez, placed fourth in 17-5A.

Based partly on promising newcomers such as Hsu, the Crusaders are hoping this is the beginning of a particularly successful cycle. Heckler and Ryan Marcum are Strake Jesuit’s only two graduating seniors.

Howell favored for second state berth

Kourtney Howell, the standout sophomore from Cypress Woods, is considered a virtual lock to return to the state tournament for the second consecutive year.

Howell, the defending regional champion, lost in the state semifinals last year. She went undefeated in district, didn’t lose a set during the district tournament and has only three losses on the season, two to Heather Steinbauer of College Park.

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Region III tennis tournament

WHEN: Tuesday and Wednesday. Championship matches in boys singles, girls singles, and boys and girls doubles are scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.

WHERE: Deer Park High School South Campus, 710 W. San Augustine St., Deer Park.

WHAT’S AT STAKE: The top two placers in each bracket advance to the state tournament, May 5 and 6 in Austin. Look for Fort Bend Austin’s Beau Bernstein and Memorial’s Jonathan Chang and Adam Putterman to make noise in singles, as will Cypress Woods’ Kourtney Woods on the girls side. Katy Taylor has solid representatives in both singles and doubles.

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