Cove’s Alokoa/Gonzalez advance to Region I-6A Tennis tournament

By TJ MAXWELL

Cove Leader-Press

WACO – The Copperas Cove Tennis team competed in the District 8-6A tournament in Waco last week with one duo advancing on to the Regiona I-6A Tournament to be held at the University of Texas-Arlington Tennis Center on April 18-19.

“Last year we only had two entries get past the first round,” said head coach Paul Talbett in an email. “This year with over half of last year’s team gone, we had four entries reach the quarterfinals, and one get out and qualify for regionals. 

“We also had three very close losses in the first round.  Last year we had no close matches that were losses in the first round.  We have six boys and girls returning for next year so we are looking forward to preparing for next fall and team tennis.”

The girls’ doubles team of Latoya Alokoa and Alyssa Gonzalez charged all the way to the semi-finals before dropping their first match of the tournament. 

The duo won their first game in the semis 6-2 before dropping two-straight sets 3-6, 5-7 to fall.

They responded with a sweep (7-5, 6-1) to earn a regional playoff berth.

“Latoya and Alyssa had a great tournament, having only dropped 2 games going into the semi-finals,” said Talbett.  “They dropped the semi-final 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 with the match going down to the wire in the third set.  They won the third place match 7-5, 6-1 to earn a spot at regionals.”

Several other Cove singles or duos played their way to the quarterfinals before falling out of the tournament.

Noah Chapman made it to the quarterfinals in boys’ singles before losing a marathon match to Belton’s J.J. Seo.

“Noah breezed through the first round, but had a 3 1/2 hour battle in the quarters and lost in a third se,” said Talbett. “Noah was serving at 3-4 in the third and lost a big 35-minute service game that change the momentum of the match.”

Also reaching the quarterfinals was the short-handed mixed doubles duo. Brett Alber along with junior varsity call-up Shelby Ayers, in for the injured Tessa Bliss, fought hard but eventually fell to Midway (5-7, 7-5. 0-6).

“Tessa Bliss was out with an injury,” said Talbett. “Shelby came up from the JV, stepped in and did a great job.  Brett and Shelby lost to Midway’s no. 2 team that finished second in district.

The boys’ doubles partnership of sophomores Ariel Diaz and Noah Samarippa also reached the quarterfinals before falling to the no. 1 seeded Belton team in straight sets (0-6, 2-6). 

 “They lost in the quarterfinals to the no. 1 seed from Belton but they played great,” said Talbett.  “Almost every game went to deuce [or multiple deuces]. It was a great tournament for two sophomores.”

The duo of freshman Martha Abraham and sophomore Zamira Manuel were ousted in the first round by the no.1 Harker Heights team 6-4, 0-6, 4-6.

“Another great tournament for a young team in their first varsity district tournament,” said Talbett. 

The boys’ duo of Gavin Glick and Jalen Nix suffered a similar fate with a first-round loss 4-6, 4-6, to Belton’s no. 2 team. 

“We were up 4-3 in both sets, but were unable to close out,” said Talbett. “They finished up the spring playing great tennis.”

The Cove sub-varsity teams also saw action at the district tournament last week in Belton.

The junior varsity girls finished district runners-up

“Our JV and freshman teams had a good day in Belton,” said Talbett. “The JV girls lost two close matches that would have put us in first place.”

The top finishers for the JV Cove girls were:

Girls Doubles - 2nd place: Angie Gorman/Telsa Mackwelung; 3rd place: Bre’Ana Johnson/Nadrena Reid

Girls Singles - Quarterfinalists: Paige Purdum, Alex Peralta and Melanie Schaub

The junior varsity boys just missed out on district runner-up as well.

“We lost a 9-7 tiebreaker, and two 8-6 matches that we were leading 6-4 and did not close out,” said Talbett.  “If we win two of those three we would be district champs.  If we would have won the tie-breaker, we would have been runner-up.  They played great, and we were missing our no. 1 boy.”

The top finishers for the Cove boys were: boys’ doubles – 4th place: Andrian Nani/Isiah Ramirez; Quarterfinalists: BJ Abraham/Ethan Hernandez  

Boys Singles - Quarterfinalists: Kevin Gillespie and David Bekkerus

The freshman girls finished third, led by the quarterfinalist girls’ doubles team of Marina Slater/Tiffany Tara and singles players Dominique Jackson  (4th place) and Aurora Durazo (quarterfinalist).

The freshman boys finished also finished third, led by the 3rd-place finish of doubles team Charles Aker/Matthew Derosia. Najair Reid finished fourth in boys’ singles.

The mixed doubles team of Kayla Clemmons/Christain Alejandro finished third and Jacob Frazier/Rebecca Earl finished fourth.