SETBACK

HARKER HEIGHTS - The Copperas Cove Dawg Tennis team suffered their first setback in District 8-6A play in a 15-4 loss to the Knights Tuesday in Harker Heights.

 

In just their sixth loss of the team tennis season, the Dawgs lost a few tough matches early to enter singles play in a 5-2 deficit.

 

“We came out early in doubles up in all seven matches,” said Cove head tennis coach Paul Talbett. “But had difficulty converting big points (such as 3-3 deuce points, and closing out sets, and 3rd set tie breaks). Our inability to convert the big points put us in a 2-5 hole coming out of doubles. We definitely should have been up at least 4-3.

 

“We had two or three matches, that every game we lost went to deuce, but we could not win that big point.”

 

The girls’ doubles team of Tessa Bliss and Zonya Mackwelung earned a tiebreaker victory over Heights’ duo Faith Johnson and Jessica Adams. They took control early with a 6-3 win in set one but Heights rallied with a lopsided 6-1 set two to force the 3rd-set tiebreaker. Cove held off the Lady Knights 10-5 in the breaker to earn one of their two doubles victories.

 

Cove duo Alyssa Gonzalez and Zamira Manuel also earned a win in a sweep over Heights’ Claar/Lopez (6-3, 6-4) for the second win of the day for Cove.

 

The Cove boys’ dropped all three matches but didn’t bow out easily. The duo of Trystan Jackson and Nick Motley pushed Heights’ Mitchell Newby and Sam Holland to the brink. Cove took an early led in the first set and held on to win 6-3 but Height’s battled back for a 6-4 second set win to force the 3rd-set tiebreaker. Heights held on to win 10-6 in the breaker.

 

The duo of Gavin Glick and Jalen Nix also fought hard against Heights’ Joseph Kim/Sam Jackson, eventually falling 7-5 in set one and 6-4 in the second.

 

The Cove mixed doubles duo of Dalton Heil and Sami Turner also lost a close three-setter to Heights’ Patch/Holt.

 

The took the first set with a lopsided 6-2 score then roles reversed with a 6-1 Heights’ win in set two. The Heights duo then edge out Cove 10-8 in the breaker for the 5-2 Heights’ lead heading into singles.

 

Jackson and Motley were also pushed to a 3rd set in singles later in the day with Jackson escaping with a 6-4, 5-7 (12-10) win over Newby and Motley suffered a tough 17-15 loss in the marathon 3rd-set tiebreaker after taking set one 6-3 and losing set two 6-1.

 

Noah Chapman earned the only other singles victory for Cove on the night. Chapman knocked off Heights’ Chris Fuertes in a 6-4, 6-3 sweep.

 

Latoya Alokoa pushed Harker Heights’ Nellie Neal to a third set in girls’ singles but none of the Cove girls were able to squeak out a win.

 

“We were fighting in singles,” said Talbett. “But, after a couple of singles losses came off, the pressure got to us and we folded under the pressure.

 

After getting shutout 6-0 in the first set, Alokoa pushed to a 6-4 win in the second set before eventually falling 12- 10 in the 3rd-set tiebreaker.”

 

“We did not lose the match due to lack of effort or heart, or even less ability than our opponent,” said Talbett. “We came up short because we could not handle the pressure situations, and close out matches we had under control.

 

“We control our own destiny and will continue to work on gaining confidence and handling the pressure of district.”

 

The Dawgs face another tough test tonight as they travel to Waco to take on the Midway Panthers with a 4 p.m. start time. The Dawgs return home on Tuesday where they will host Shoemaker beginning at 4 p.m.

 

The Dawgs’ junior varsity Gold played against Heights yesterday while the JV Blue hosted Gatesville. The Blue squad will play at Lampasas next Tuesday with the JV Gold traveling to Belton to face the Tigers on Thursday.