Team tennis: Permian settles for third in 2-5A

When the water jugs had been emptied and all the tension was cleared from the Ratliff Tennis Complex air, there really was only one logical conclusion for Permian High School:

Finishing third in the District 2-5A Team Tennis Tournament was a pretty good accomplishment.

It wasn't good enough to keep Permian's season alive, but certainly the result was better than any the program had produced for quite some time.

Ranked No. 25 in the state by the Texas Tennis Coaches Association, Permian beat Amarillo Tascosa 11-8 in the tournament's third-place dual match Saturday morning on the Permian courts.

With No. 11 Lubbock Coronado holding off No. 9 San Angelo Central 10-8 in the championship dual at Ratliff, that gave Permian a shot against Central in the second-place playback.

Central simply had too much quality throughout its lineup to be denied, though, beating Permian 10-2 in the playback. As the top two finishers in the district, Coronado and Central advanced to play next week at the Region I-5A Championships in Abilene.

"It was pretty obvious that San Angelo and Coronado were the best two teams in the district," Permian head coach Mary Kay Mann said. "But it was always a question about who was No. 3. I felt like our kids proved that they were the third-best team in the district."

Permian also finished third in the District 2-5A regular season, but the stakes really were decided Thursday through Saturday in Odessa since the tournament decided the regional qualifiers.

The two tightest district victories for Permian came about a month ago against the Amarillo ISD schools - 10-9 decisions against both Amarillo High and Amarillo Tascosa.

On Friday, Permian held its ground by beating Amarillo High 10-4 in the quarterfinals. Then in the tense third-place dual against Tascosa, Permian took a 4-3 lead after the opening doubles matches and stayed slightly ahead for the entire day.

A 7-6 lead went to 9-8 after Chase Cawthron won at No. 5 boys singles and Elizabeth Espinoza won at No. 5 girls singles.

The deciding point came at No. 6 boys singles, where Nick Webster worked through plenty of nerves to edge Tascosa's Sam Boyce 7-5, 6-4. Webster earlier had won at No. 3 boys doubles with brother Zack Webster.

Carrie Lasater then won a three-set match at No. 4 girls singles to close out the victory in style.

"It's sad that we don't get to move on, but we've moved on from where we used to be to where we are now," Mann said. "I felt like the kids proved they could play, but we've still got a ways to go."

For the day, Charlotte Dawson and Tai Lucero went undefeated in girls singles and doubles while Jake Wood and Espinoza won both of their mixed doubles matches.

Against Tascosa, Lauren Bolinger and Carrie Lasater won at No. 2 girls doubles.

In the big picture, Coronado and Central simply had a little too much polish to make an upset possible.

Coronado beat Permian in Friday's semifinals before Central - after losing to the Mustangs in the championship - came out with a purpose to win the playback.

Central took a 5-2 lead in doubles, including victories in two girls matches, and then closed the deal with five decisive boys singles victories.

"To get up 5-2 after doubles, it was impressive and it says a lot about the kids - they're a good group," Central head coach Matt Rutherford said. "You can't be too confident, but I have confidence in these kids and I really felt like they were going to perform well."

While Central was the regular-season district champion, Coronado will carry the 2-5A banner to the regional tournament as the No. 1 seed.

Mustangs head coach David Denham pointed to a victory at No. 2 boys singles from Ben Jordan and a mixed doubles victory for Hayden Turner and Chris Moss for helping turn the tide. Turner won the deciding match at No. 6 girls singles, beating Central's Michelle Mendoza 6-1, 7-6.

"San Angelo Central, they just always battle and they just play big against us and it's awesome," Denham said. "In other seasons, we've had kids up there at the top and you get so spoiled because they just never lose and you take it for granted.

"But the thing is, everybody contributes and that's team tennis. You get it from your mixed doubles all the way down to No. 6 girls singles. Everybody is contributing through all these wins and that's what I love about team tennis."