Dawg Tennis locks up at least third with win over Temple
By TJ MAXWELL
Cove Leader-Press
The Copperas Cove Tennis team put itself in a favorable position, clinching at least third in the District 12-6A race with their 15-4 win over the Tem-Cats Tuesday evening in Copperas Cove.
The Dawgs jumped out quickly over the Tem-Cats, winning five of the seven the doubles’ matches to take a 5-2 lead into the singles portion of the contest.
“With tonight's win we clinched at least third place in the district standings with two district matches remaining,” said Cove head tennis coach Paul Talbett.
The Cove no. 1 duo of Noah Samarippa and Noah Chapman outlasted Andrew Posey and Naman Bhakta 6-4, 6-3 while the no. 2 doubles team of Ben Fernandez and Ari Diaz beat Josh Curtis and Triet Nguyen 6-2, 6-1. Dedrick Whitley and Adrian Alejandro closed out the boys’ doubles with a 6-3, 6-4 loss to Kimble Horsak and Nguyen Nguyen.
The girls’ no. 1 duo of Martha Abraham and Zamira Manuel defeated Hanna Ahmed and Jenny Doan 6-2, 6-3. Lele Kinere and Paige Purdum battled to a 7-6(3), 6-3 win in the no. 2 spot and Telsa Mackwelung and Shayla Pollot earned tiebreaker win over Callie Hancock and Gavriel Martinez 6-3, 3-6 (10-6).
The Cove mixed doubles’ duo of Matthew Derosia and Liliana Gray closed out the doubles’ for Cove with a 6-0, 6-2 loss to Matt Swords and Smruta Ramanathan.
The boys’ continued their winning ways with five wins in six singles’ matches.
Samarripa defeated Swords 6-3, 7-6(4) in the no. 1 spot while Chapman cruised by Posey 6-0, 6-3 at no. 2.
Fernandez defeated Bhakta 4-2 in the third spot and Diaz took care of business against Horsak 6-3, 6-0 in the fourth spot. Derosia beat Nguyen Nguyen 6-4, 5-7 (10-8) in the sixth spot. Cove’s Levi Gay fell to Curtis 6-3, 6-2.
The girls’ also came away with the advantage in singles with a 4-2 outcome. Manuel suffered a 6-1, 2-6 (10-8) loss to Ramanathan in the no. 1 spot and Shayla Pollot suffered the other loss in a 6-4, 6-4 match to Temple’s Erika Fernandez.
Cove’s Abraham earned a 6-2, 6-2 win over Martinez in the second spot and Kinere almost blanked Temple’s Ahmed in a 6-0, 6-1 contest.
Closing out the Cove wins were Purdum 5-7, 7-5 (10-3) over Gretal Adams and Gray in a 6-2, 6-4 win over Hancock.
The Dawgs Tennis varsity squad (16-6 overall, 5-1 in 12-6A) will get in some non-district action at Pflugerville today before getting back to District 12-6A action at Ellison on Monday. The varsity will then play another non-district match against Fredricksburg in Llano on Oct. 5 before closing out district action at Waco Midway on Tuesday, Oct. 9.