Regional Roundup: Stillman advances to state
It took Tomas Stillman one more match than he wanted, but the Harlingen South senior is off to state.
Stillman beat Dennis Garcia of Corpus Christi Carroll 6-2, 6-2 in a true second-place match to become the second qualifier out of the boys singles division in the Region IV-5A Tournament on Wednesday at the McFarlin Tennis Center in San Antonio.
"Idea is to qualify," Harlingen South coach Noe Stillman said. "Winning state is the overall goal."
Tomas, who beat Justin Randall of San Antonio Clark in the semifinals 6-3, 6-2, lost to No. 2 seed Tanner Brown of New Braunfels 6-7, 0-6 in the final. Brown beat Garcia in the other semifinal match to set-up the showdown between himself and Stillman.
During his match against Brown, specifically in the second set, Tomas started feeling tightness in his leg and didn’t expel too much energy, saving what he had left for the true second place match.
The gamble paid off.
And now, a year after losing in the state final, Tomas is going back to Austin on May 9 and 10 and will try to finish the job.
"We want to finish it up," Noe said. "Get back there and give ourselves another opportunity to win it all."
Brownsville Hanna, meanwhile, saw its players fall in the semifinals, as Sofia Montemayor lost her girls singles match 1-6, 4-6 and Marithe and Carolina Guerra lost their girls doubles match 3-6, 0-6.
Both then lost their third-place matches, as well.
"We had a lot of chances and we were not able to convert on some important points," Hanna coach Terry Hoover said. "It comes down to one or two points each game, we didn't convert."
But in all, the three juniors came away with a fourth place finish and fell just short of making the final of the regional tournament. That certainly gives the Golden Eagles something to build on for next year.
"It was a great learning experience," Hoover said. "It shows a lot of things we need to improve on."
Finally, at Day 1 of the Region IV-3A Tournament on Wednesday at the HEB Tennis Center in Corpus Christi, La Feria advanced four sets of doubles teams to today's final.
Both mixed doubles teams — District 32-3A champions Jeremy Rodriguez and Alecxia Ceballos and runners-up Eli Ramos and Erica Gilbert — advanced to the final and will play each other. That guarantees the Lions at least one team that will go to state.
Rodriguez/Ceballos won their semifinal match 6-4, 6-1, while Ramos/Gilbert won 6-1, 6-1. Both beat teams from Fredericksburg.
In girls doubles, the team of Jackie Marquez and Karilu Hernandez also advanced to the final, beating a team from Wimberley. Also, the boys doubles team of Roy Randall and Onorio Ramos advanced to the final, as they took down a team from Burnet.
Class 4A
Patriots in ninth place at IV-4A tournament
Mission Veterans Memorial is six shots out of eighth place after Day 1 of the Region IV-4A Tournament on Wednesday at Pecan Valley in San Antonio.
Austin Lake Travis leads the field with a 286. San Antonio Alamo Heights is in second with a 303, while Boerne Champion is in third with a 306.
Mission Veterans is in 12th place with a 329, very close to a number of other teams and in contention for a middle of the pack finish.
"The kids were relatively close to par (on the back nine)," Mission Veterans coach Morgan Buxton said. "We didn’t do as well, but we’re looking forward to (today) to pick up ground."
The district champion Patriots were led by Jesus Villarreal, who shot a 79, and Jose Quintanilla, who shot an 81.
Edcouch-Elsa, who came in second place in the District 32-4A Tournament, finished Day 1 with a 352.
Steven Jones of Kerrville Tivy had the lowest listed individual score with a 70.
Todd Orodenker covers sports for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 982-6663 or via e-mail at torodenker@brownsvilleherald.com.
