Stillman, La Feria ousted at state

The dream was denied for Tomas Stillman.

The Harlingen South singles ace lost in his quarterfinal match to Andrew Korinek of Mansfield 3-6, 6-7 (4) in the 5A State Tournament on Monday at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center at the University of Texas in Austin.

The loss denied him of a return trip to the state final, which he made last year as a junior.

“For me, it’s no disappointment,” Stillman said. “A few points here or there made the difference.”

Stillman broke Korinek twice in the first set, but was re-broken immediately both times to take away his advantage. After Korinek broke Stillman to go up 4-3, he won the final two games to take the set.

“He had his chances in the beginning, first set,” South coach Noe Stillman said. “We just didn’t capitalize on anything.”

In the second set, Korinek broke Tomas to go up 1-0, but the South star battled back and had two set points later in the match when facing Korinek’s serve. However, both times, the serves were simply too much for Tomas to do anything with.

“We both raised our level at the same time, it was a good match all around,” Tomas said. “It was a good match overall.”

In the tiebreaker, Tomas went up by a few points early, but Korinek battled back and eventually put him away and won the match on his powerful serve.

“The kid just hit some big shots at the right time, came up with some big serves,” Noe said. “Just bad luck, we needed to win that match.”

Korinek was considered by many to be the top player in the field, and it just so happened that Tomas drew him in the quarterfinals.

Still, even though his South career is now over, the father and son are not leaving Austin with their heads down.

“I’m very proud of him, he played very well,” Noe said. “I think he represented our area well.”

Korinek, a junior who is committed to Texas, went on to beat Parker McGuiness of McKinney

Boyd 6-1, 6-1 in the semifinals and will face Tanner Brown of New Braunfels in the final this morning.

In 3A action, La Feria’s mixed doubles team of Eli Ramos and Erika Gilbert fell in the semifinals Monday in the State Tournament at the World of Tennis in Lakeway.

Josh Madden and Abbie Madden of Borger took down the regional champions 6-1, 7-5 to move on and deny Ramos and Gilbert a return trip to the final.

“We were outplayed,” La Feria coach Juan Hernandez said. “The other kids were just better today than we were.”

The day was full of delays in 3A action and especially in mixed doubles, which certainly didn’t help out the Lions.

“We made too many errors, just didn’t play our game,” Hernandez said. “That’s the way these tournaments sometimes wind up.”

The two won their quarterfinal match over Sam Dominguez and Brittany Slatton of Kaufman 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 to advance to the semifinals.

“(They) had a very good career,” Hernandez said. “Realistically I’m a little disappointed … But that happens, it could happen to anybody.”

The Lions’ other mixed doubles team, Jeremy Rodriguez and Alecxia Ceballos, lost to Laird Beaty and Courtney Johnson of Lindale 6-4, 2-6, 3-6 in the quarterfinals.

“The other team stepped it up a little bit, we kind of made some unforced errors that cost us some games,” Hernandez said. “We had some chances, but were unable to capitalize.”

The boys doubles team of Onorio Ramos and Roy Randall also fell, losing in three sets to Tim Brewer and Ethan McWhorter of Groesbeck 1-6, 6-1, 3-6 in the quarterfinals.

“It got away from them,” Hernandez said. “Some unforced errors toward the end cost us the match.”

Elsewhere, the girls doubles team of Jackie Marquez and Karilu Hernandez lost in straight sets in the quarterfinals to Delaney Schroeder and Kelsey Wolfe of Abilene Wylie 6-2, 6-0.

“They were nervous, playing probably the best 3A girls in the state," Hernandez said. "We’ll come back.”

In all, the Lions end their season by sending eight players to state and two players to the semifinals. It didn’t end up quite as Hernandez had envisioned, but it was still a stellar year.

“Fun time,” he said. “It’s been one of the best years we ever had, looking at everything.”