Katy Taylor girls doubles team wins state title
Tuesday May 06, 2008
Written by Chad Washington


The Katy Taylor duo of Audrey Tompkins and Alex Henry finished their remarkable seasons Tuesday as state champions, winning the girls doubles championship at the UIL state tennis championships at the Lakeway World of Tennis in Austin.


Tompkins and Henry, who finished their season with a record of 24-1, beat Micah Hernsdorf and Kelsie Lawson of Klein 6-1, 6-2. This avenges a third-place finish for the duo in last year’s tournament.


In the quarterfinals on Monday, Tompkins and Henry survived a tough match against Lauren Nielson and Sydni Hermsdorf of Klein, winning in three sets (6-3, 5-7, 6-4).


The Mustang duo then beat Madison Hudson and Emma Morris of Abilene in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the final.


The girls doubles championship was the only bright spot for Taylor. The boys doubles team of Tim Kuo and John Kim fell to Russell Bader and Alex Durham of Austin Westlake 6-2, 6-4 in the quarters. In mixed doubles, the team of Mia Matuszak and Neal Schneider fell to Lubbock Coronado’s Jared Hope and Whitney Wofford, 6-4, 6-2 in the quarters.


After a day of wet weather at the Lakeway World of Tennis in Austin, the 5A state tennis tournament finally got underway late Monday.


Rains delayed the quarterfinal matches until Monday afternoon, meaning that some semifinal matches were pushed back until Tuesday morning.


On Monday, a lot of area players did well in the quarterfinals, but couldn’t advance past the semifinals. Those include the Region III boys and girls singles champions.


Regional champ Cypress Creek’s Austin Brooks won his quarterfinal match against Brandon Underwood of Mesquite Horn in straight sets (6-1, 6-2). But Brooks lost in the semis to Bryan Welnetz of Laredo United, 6-3, 6-3. Welnetz went on to win the state championship with a 7-6, 6-0 win over Carson Kadi of Coppell.


Dulles junior Audrey Wooland, the girls singles regional champion, beat Sophie Lattna of Austin Westlake 6-4, 6-1, but could hold her own against eventual champion Heather Steinbauer of The Woodlands College Park, falling 6-0, 6-0. Steinbauer won the title with a 6-0, 6-0 win against Klein’s Ariel Morton.


Clear Lake had a couple of doubles teams that did well at the tournament. Robert Voss and Chris Hoffman, who were one of the favorites to win, started off well with a quarterfinal win over Nathal Alhalel and Cristobal Ramirez of Mission Sharyland in three sets, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4.


But Voss and Hoffman could not get much going against Sergio Antognelli and Chris Bell of Plano West, losing in straight sets (6-2, 6-1). Plano West went on to win gold with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Ben Chen and Andrew Sumrall of Klein Collins.


The Falcons’ mixed doubles team of Amanda DiCarlo and Brandon Farine were also big favorites to bring home a state championship, and the duo looked strong in a quarterfinal win over Alex Hanno and Haley Holt of Grapevine, winning 6-2, 6-3. But the Klein team of Lauren Santacroce and Jonathan Alexander caught up to the Clear Lake duo in the semifinals, winning in three sets (4-6, 6-1, 6-3). The Klein team went on to win the championship with 0-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Hope and Wofford.


Other area notables:
- Paige Rachel of Cinco Ranch played well at state, winning her quarterfinal match over Stefanie Peana of Austin Westlake in three sets (3-6, 6-3, 6-4). But in the semifinals, Rachel battled Klein’s Morton, and Morton advanced to the final by winning 6-0, 7-5.


- Stratford’s girls doubles team of Charlene Leyden and Monica Pierratt fell to Klein’s Micah Hernsdorf and Kelsie Lawson in the quarterfinals in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2.




Write comment
You must be logged in to a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.

busy
 
< Prev   Next >