KFDM COOP Posted October 11, 2007 Report Posted October 11, 2007 Nederland wraps up 22-4A team tennis title, tops PN-G 17-2The Port Arthur News NEDERLAND -- When those Nederland racket swingers departed their campus late Tuesday, they excused themselves with a 15th district team tennis title in the last 17 years. The 22-4A title clincher came on the NHS courts with a 17-2 victory over Port Neches-Groves. The Nederland team tennis squad of standout coach Jorge Lopez has a two-week preparation time before it competes in the 4A regional tennis tournament at Friendswood on Oct. 26-27.Lopez had excellent leadership in his boys team which roared through a perfect 22-4A record. Grant Lopez and Jimmy Hoang led the Nederland boys effort during the regular season with perfect singles and doubles records in team tennis.Lopez defeated PN-G's Brad Lemaire, 6-2, 6-3 and Hoang downed Caleb Flanigan 6-3, 6-2 in this week's feature boys singles affairs. Ben Wiedenfeld defeated Thompson Pham 6-1, 6-1 followed by Nick Duplan's 6-2, 6-2 win over Alex Larcade, Aaron Elizondo's harder-earned 2-6, 7-6, 6-4 decision over Ritesh Patel and Cody Mays toppled Austin Vensel 7-5, 6-3.The three Nederland boys doubles tandems worked through straight-set triumphs against PN-G teams. Lopez and Hoang claimed a 6-2, 6-3 verdict over Flanigan and Lemaire. The identical score worked for Wiedenfeld and Duplan in their victory over Larcade and Pham. Mathew Engelbrecht and Adam Weaver completed the sweep in a 6-3, 6-2 decision over Ritesh Patel and Darshan Patel.A perfect mixed doubles district record reached its completion for the Nederland team of Spencer Cole and Sarah Simiskey in a 6-2, 6-3 win over Austin Vensel and Jessica Lawrence.Not quite so equally dominant was Lopez's girls singles and doubles competitors. Yet the NHS girls only lost once in singles and once in doubles to their Mid-County rivals.Nederland's No. 1 player, Rachel Binagia, continued her steady labor in a 6-4, 6-2 decision over Angel Mitchell. No. 2 Elaine Nguyen did the same in a 6-3, 6-4 win over Lauren Anderson. Holly Hodge was in command of a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Hayley English. Nederland's lone girls three-set win belonged to Kayla Ferguson -- 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 over Leah Duplantis. Jordan Chandler downed Kayla Tran 6-3, 6-4.PN-G's lone singles win of the day belonged to Carla Salgado with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Kelsey Meade.All three girls doubles decisions required straight-set matches with Nederland taking two out of three. Binagia and Nguyen defeated Mitchell and English, 6-4, 6-3 and Meade and Chandler topped Tran and Courtney Gilbert 6-4, 7-6. The lone PN-G doubles win belonged to Lauren Anderson and Leah Duplantis, 6-4, 6-3 over Ferguson and Hodge. — Tom Halliburton
jake94 Posted October 11, 2007 Report Posted October 11, 2007 Great job by Coach Lopez's team. I spoke with him last week and he says this is the best boys team he's had since his 1993 and 1994 teams that were state ranked.
BABOLAT2 Posted October 11, 2007 Report Posted October 11, 2007 I bet they lose first round in regionals No offense
garsnare Posted October 11, 2007 Report Posted October 11, 2007 Nice job Nederland! Congrats on yet another district title. It's gonna be tough at regional team tennis. Nederland will be anywhere from the 5th to 7th best team. If they get a good draw they could make the quarterfinals. There are two 2nd place teams that will be better than Nederland (Foster and Angleton), gotta hope you don't get unlucky and draw one of them first round. Babolat2, what do you know about team tennis, you have never played it.
jake94 Posted October 12, 2007 Report Posted October 12, 2007 They probably will lose early. The girls team is probably gonna get whacked and the guys team is pretty good, but there will be plenty of good boys teams at regionals.
garsnare Posted October 12, 2007 Report Posted October 12, 2007 The top 4 teams in regionals will all have at least champs in all 6 spots in the boys line-up. Nederland can be competitive at the #1, and maybe the #2 spot, but from 3-6 they will get whacked. And you are right about the girls, with no champ girls you are gonna lose all 9 girls matches. Nederland is good enough to make 2nd round with the right draw, but I can't see them making it past that.
jake94 Posted October 12, 2007 Report Posted October 12, 2007 I agree garsnare. The year we went to state, we had 1 super, 3 champs, and some very good 5 and 6 guys that just did not play tourneys. Our guys team was top notch, but we were lucky if we ever won a girls match because we had no champs or supers. I agree that Nederland MAY get to the 2nd round, but they are gonna have to win A LOT of guys matches to do so in my opinion.Off topic.. I hit for 30 minutes and then played a set with Lain Herr last night. What is the pecking order for local juniors right now? Obviously, Deaver is at the top.. Who are the main guys locally who will try and compete with him. Lain looks like he will be a good player in the future, but he's not ready for Deaver yet.
jake94 Posted October 12, 2007 Report Posted October 12, 2007 Who got 2nd in this district?I think LC-M did.. might have been PN-G though.
garsnare Posted October 12, 2007 Report Posted October 12, 2007 Yeah, I've seen Lain play. He has a big game, but is very streaky. When he is on he is capable of hitting people off the court, but when he is off he beats himself.After Deaver, the next group is Sagar Desai, Bug, Grant, Lain, Scott Carnley, Kenton Boone, and Clement Wehner.
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