Tennis Has Close Game Against Marble Falls

Junior Varsity faces tough game against Westlake

by Jack Densmore, Staff Writer

This past week both the Junior Varsity and Varsity Lions fell in their hard fought matches against Westlake and Marble Falls. Varsity faced off against Marble Falls in some closely matched sets.

The Boys-Doubles team gave the Lions three match victories when senior Alper Orkun and junior Joseph Rexrode creamed their Marble Falls opponents 6-1 in both of their sets.

“Joseph and I have been playing together for two years and we have been playing well together as a team,” Orkun said. “Hopefully I will get another win for the team.”

Seniors Keaton Adcock and Kiefer Peckham also led a match victory against Marble Falls by winning their first set 6-2 and their second set 6-0. Juniors Louis Farias and Russell Thomas faced a close set by winning the 1st set 6-1, losing the second set 1-6, and then winning with a high score of 10-3 giving Leander the match win.

Girls-Doubles was swept by Marble Falls as seniors Bailee Higgins and Ashley Snieder lost both of their sets with their first set being 6-7 and their second set 0-6. Senior Katie Lofton and sophomore Laruen Fuller also fell short as they scored 2-6 in their first set and their second set 1-6. Sophomore Alexandra Peterson and junior Madison Flesner  also fell to Marble Falls to 1-6 both sets.

Mixed-Doubles fought hard but came up short in their three set match with the first set they won 6-2, the second set 4-6, and the third set 10-3 with Marble Falls winning on the final set.

G-Singles had a tougher time as Marble Falls won the majority of the matches with only Snieder winning a match for Leander out of six other matches with a score of 6-0 in the first set and a score of 6-2 in the second set. Higgins and Lofton both fought hard in their single matches but came up short as Higgins lost 6-3 in the first set and then 6-0 in the second set; meanwhile Lofton lost 6-1 and 6-2 in her single match sets.

“We have a lot of new people and they don’t have a lot of experience,” Rexrode said.  “I think we’ll do pretty well against Vista Ridge mostly cause I think we have a stronger boys team than they do girls team I’m not really sure it’s more of a toss up for that.”

Fuller fought hard in her three set match as she scored 3-6 in the first set, 6-4 in the second set, but came up short in the third set as she lost 6-5 as Marble Falls squeezed in another match victory. Sophomores Clara Benefield and Emilee Scanlon were defeated by Marble Falls as Benefield lost both of her sets 6-2, and Scanlon lost both of her sets 6-1.

B-Singles played hard against their opponents in which the Lions won the most B-Singles matches. Orkun and senior Kiefer Pekham both had very close matches against the Mustangs as Orkun scored 6-3 in his first set, 5-7 in his second set, and creamed his opponent 10-0 in his final set giving the Lions the match victory. Peckham also had a close three set match as he scored 6-7 in the first set, 6-2 in the second set, but came up short in the third set with a score of 10-5. Rexrode and Adcock both steam-rolled over their Mustang opponents as Rexrode scored 6-1 in both of his sets, and Adcock scored 6-0 in both of his sets.

“As a team we haven’t done as well as we hoped but individually I think I’m doing pretty well,” Rexrode said. “For the most part we’ve lost the majority of our team matches, but individually I’m doing pretty well in singles and I’ve only lost like one match I think against Austin High.”

Farias and junior Russell Thomas also had no problem handling the Mustangs as Farias scored 6-1 in the first set and 6-2 in the second set winning the match for Leander. Thomas played the match with ease as he won both of his sets with a score 6-2.

Marble Falls barely squeezed by in the final score against the Lions with the score being 9-10 in favor of the Mustangs.

“Today versus past matches, I’ve seen an increase in a desire and attitude because we’ve talked about being an upperclassmen and being more responsible and focused,” Coach Kostoff said. “This group is very tight knit and is a real team and they’ve all contributed and there’s no one in particular that is better than the rest and that’s nice to see.”

 

Junior Varsity Tennis squared off with Westlake last Thursday but fell short in a lot of very close matches against the Chaparrals.

The G-Doubles had two very close matches because Benefield and Fuller scored 8-6 giving Leander the win. Sophomore Paris Durante and Freshman Abby Parker barely lost to the Chaparrals 6-8. Junior Laura-Marie Kempinger and sophomore Alex Nandin were swept by Westlake in a 0-8 defeat.

JV B-Doubles came up short against Westlake when Farias and Thomas lost a close match against the Chaparrals with a score of 5-8. Junior Adhithya Balaji and Senior Hector Carrillo were defeated in their match with a score of 1-8. Juniors Matthew and Nathan Archibald were defeated as well in their match with a score of 1-7.

“I didn’t do as well as I should’ve done,” N. Archibald said. “I don’t know I just wasn’t playing my best. I don’t think either of us were playing as we should and we should practice more.”

MX-Doubles fought two close sets to give Leander a win when Thomas and Benefield scored 7-6 in the first set and 7-5 in the second set.

G-Singles came up short in a series of close matches as Fuller won both of her sets with a score of 9-8 in the first set and a score of 10-8 in the second set. Benefield was defeated in her match with a score of 1-6. Durante won both of her match in two very close sets as she scored 9-8 in the first set and 8-6 in the second set giving the Lions another win. Parker fought hard in her loss to her opponent with a score of 3-6. Nandin fought to the bitter end in her singles match with a close score of 6-8 in favor of Westlake. Freshman Lauren Pohl was stopped short in her match with a score of 0-8. Sophomore Natalie Garner was overpowered in her match with a score of 0-6.

B-Doubles were overwhelmed in their matches as Westlake gained victories in all of the matches. Farias and Thomas both lost their singles matches with a score of 1-6. Both Balaji and M. Archibald came up short in their 2-8 singles match losses. Carrillo was stopped close to a victory with a loss of 4-8 in his singles match. N. Archibald was overwhelmed in his singles match with a loss of 1-8.

Westlake overcame the JV Lions in the final score 4-16 in favor of Westlake.