Cove tennis, volleyball excels at weekend tourneys

By TJ MAXWELL

Cove Leader-Press

The Copperas Cove tennis team held serve on their home court going 4-0 in the Centex Team Tennis Tournament this weekend to claim the tournament crown over rival Brownwood.

The Dawgs battled back from an early deficit to secure the match at 10-5 before splitting the final four matches to finish 12-7 and tournament champions.

“In the championship match, we came up against a strong undefeated team in Brownwood,” said Cove head coach Paul Talbett.  “We were in a dogfight in doubles, where at one point we were down in five of the doubles matches.  We did not quit and fought through it and ended up 5-2 after doubles.  

“We lost mixed doubles in a third set tiebreaker, or we would have been up 6-1.  We had a sweep on the boys’ side taking all three matches, and two out of three on the girls’ side.”

The boys’ doubles team of Gavin Glick and Isiah Ramirez battled tooth and nail to earn their marathon match 6-7(4), 6-3, 11-9. The no. 1 girls’ team of Alyssa Gonzalez and Abby Mackwelung also had to battle for their win 6-4, 1-6, (10-4). 

The boys then fired through the singles’ field with five of six match wins to earn the tournament title, including an 8-0 blanking by Ari Diaz and an 8-1 win by Glick.

“Our boys came up big today for us, only losing one match in the win over Brownwood,” said Talbett. “We have been challenging our boys to sweep and the team to be up 5-2 after doubles in each match.  Our boys have taken at least eight out of nine matches except for Temple where we got seven, and we have been up at least 5-2 in every match after doubles.

“Our girls have won their side in every match except for the Brownwood match. We are getting a couple of girls back and a boy as we get ready for another big week.”

Earlier in the day, the Dawgs dominated Ellison 17-2 to earn their spot in the title game.

The team started slow but quickly found their footing in the route.

“We started out a little sluggish against Ellison after the long day in the heat yesterday, but we picked it up and got out of doubles up 6-1,” said Talbett. “We took the momentum and closed out the match 17-2.  Our boys went 9-0, girls 8-1, and we lost the mixed.”

Cove dominated Del Valle 19-0 and San Angelo Lakeview 15-4 on day one of the tournament to earn their spot in the championship game. 

The Dawgs (6-0) get back to action at home today against Harker Heights with a 4:30 first serve before traveling to Waco for the Midway Team Tennis Tournament. Cove will face Alvarado at 8:30 Friday and Elkhart at 1 p.m. at the Waco Regional Tennis Center. On Saturday, The Dawgs will face Midway at Midway in the early game and Robinson at Robinson in the 1 p.m. game.

The Lady Dawg volleyball team also found themselves in a semifinal over the weekend.

After winning a double-header at home to start the season Tuesday, the Lady Dawgs went 8-0 in the Jason Landers Austin Invitational Tournament before suffering their first loss of the season to the eventual tournament champions to finish third.

The Lady Dawgs defeated Kyle Lehman (25-9, 25-16), Austin Lanier (25-3, 25-12) and Lampasas (25-4, 25-6) on day one Thursday before reeling off three more wins on Friday to move to 8-0. Cove beat Austin McCallum (25-13, 25-10), Killeen (25-11, 25-16) and Cedar Creek (25-12, 25-15). 

Cove continued their winning ways with a 25-10, 25-18 win over Lamar to open Saturday’s action before suffering their only loss of the season to LaVernia in the semifinal game (21-25, 18-25).

The Lady Dawgs got back in the winner’s circle be defeating San Antonio Marshall 25-23, 24-26, 25-20 to take third place in the tournament.

Aidan Chace and Kristin Wasiak were selected to the All Tournament Team. 

Chace filled up the stat sheet with seven aces, 12 blocks, 71 kills, 38 digs and 74 assists in the tournament. 

Wasiak had eight aces and 107 digs to lead the squad.

The Lady Dawgs host the Lorena Lady Leopards tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Bulldawg Gymnasium.