Serve by JinXiu Dong during her singles match vs. Farmington.
Karen Boehler
NMMI Sports Press
Service return by Flor Toscano.
Opening day of the Roswell Invitational tennis tournament saw the Lady Colts get a big win, earning their way into Saturday’s consolation championship.
The ladies started the morning with a 7-2 loss to 5A powerhouse Farmington that saw even Megan Lynch have to battle, winning 6-4, 7-5 against Scorpion Emily Nyguen. Lynch and JinXiu Dong combined to win at doubles.
That loss put NMMI in the consolation bracket vs. a team comprised of six JV players from three schools — Farmington, Roswell and Goddard — and with four singles wins and two at doubles, the Lady Colts won 6-3.
Megan Lynch comes up to return a short shot by her Farmington opponent.
“We’re excited,” said coach Will Cavin. “The girls are really excited. It’s a good thing for the program.”
Lynch easily won her singles match, but then Dong won at No. 2; Flor Toscano at No. 3; and Claudia Gerhardus at No. 5. Gerhardus fought back from a first set loss to take the match in a super tiebraker, 1-6, 6-3, 10-6.
And while Sofia Brassea didn’t get one of those singles wins, she also took the match to three sets, falling 4-6, 6-3, 10-5.
In doubles, Lynch and Dong won at No. 1 as did Toscano and Brassea at No. 2.
NMMI will face 6A Cleveland Saturday beginning at 9:30 a.m. at Roswell High, and while that might be a more difficult match, Cavin knows his girls are up to the task.
“It’s all a learning curve,” he said. “You just keep playing and working at it and that’s what makes you better.”
Forehand at the baseline by Spencer Treat.
While the girls won in the afternoon match, the boys got an unexpected loss.
They started the tourney with a 6-3 victory over Cleveland that saw both No. 1 Francisco Saracho and No. 2 Luis Fontes go down in singles, and the pair lose at No. 1 doubles.
But Fontes didn’t go quietly. He came back from an 0-6 first-set loss in his match to win 6-2 in the second before falling 10-5 in the super tie breaker. The Colt doubles pair also went to three, falling 4-7, winning 6-2 then taking the tie breaker to 11-9 before losing.
Felix Higuera baseline forehand.
The No. 3-6 singles and No. 2 and 3 doubles teams all got wins, which set up a rematch against Piedra Vista, a team the Colts beat 5-4 on Thursday in a dual match. Friday, it was the Panther’s turn, as they took a 5-4 win.
“But you know what? It’s not a bad thing to lose at this time of year. You don’t want to experience that at state,” Cavin said, noting his team may have overlooked PV just a bit.
“I think there was probably a little bit of overconfidence from playing them yesterday,” he said. “There were some really great matches today.”
Backhand by top NMMI singles player Francisco Saracho.
Both No. 3 Allen DeGroot, who was getting over a bug and lost big Thursday, and No. 4 Spencer Treat took their matches to three sets.
DeGroot fell 4-6 in his opening set, came back with a resounding 6-0 win in the second and just couldn’t hold on in the tie breaker, falling 10-4.
Treat fell in his first set 3-6, but took the second set to a 7-5 tie breaker victory before also falling in the third, a close 10-7.
At No. 1, Saracho had a slightly tougher win over Zander Halgryn and while Fontes lost for the second day in a row, he improved his score.
Deep behind the baseline, Allen DeGroot hits the lob shot.
The No. 2 and 3 doubles teams both won for NMMI, with DeGroot and Reyes going to three sets while Treat and Felix Higuera easily won at No. 3.
Saracho and Fontes fell, but also battled all the way to a 14-12 third-set tie breaker.
“You can’t take anything away from Piedra Vista,” Cavin said. “They’re a 5A school. They’re playing Farmington on a regular basis, and Farmington plays in the state finals almost every year as a 5A team.”
The loss means the Colts will play at 8 a.m. against Roswell High for third place, and Cavin thinks the loss will give his team reason to play even harder.
“They fell down today, and they’ll get back up on the bike and get back after it,” he said. “Come next week, we’re going to have a considerable change in the lineup, so it’s all good. They really did play good. They’re going to be in great shape.”
Results:
Boys
NMMI 6, Cleveland 3
Singles
No. 1, Cyrus Madrid, CHS, def. Francisco Saracho, NMMI, 6-1, 6-2
No. 2, Tyler Todd, CHS, def. Luis Fontes, NMMI, 0-6, 6-2, 10-5
No. 3, Allen DeGroot, NMMI, def. Dean Gontis, CHS, 6-1, 6-2
No. 4, Spencer Treat, NMMI, def. Brandon Lee, CHS, 6-2, 6-2
No. 5, Angel Reyes, NMMI, def. Logan Muxworthy, CHS, 6-1, 6-2
No. 6, Felix Higuera, NMMI, def. Alexis Talavera, 6-3, 6-0
Doubles
No. 1, Madrid/Todd, CHS, def. Saracha/Fontes, NMMI, 4-7, 6-2, 11-9
No. 2, Treat/Higuera, NMMI, Gontis/Muxworthy, CHS, 12-10, 6-0
No. 3, Ongay/Aguirre, NMMI, def. Lee/Talavera, 6-3, 6-2
Piedra Vista 5, NMMI 4
Singles
No. 1, Francisco Saracho, NMMI, def. Zander Halgryn, PV, 6-2, 6-3
No. 2, Kalani Aligarbes, PV, def. Luis Fontes, NMMI, 7-5, 6-2
No. 3, Pol Nicolai, PV, def. Allen DeGroot, NMMI, 4-6, 6-0, 10-4
No. 4, Kyler Edwards, PV, def. Spencer Treat, NMMI, 3-6, 6-6 (7-5), 10-7
No. 5, Kaden Weisheit, PV, def. Angel Reyes, NMMI, 6-3, 6-1
No. 6, Felix Higuera, NMMI, def. Justin Allen, PV, 6-3, 6-2
Doubles
No. 1, Halgryn/Aligarbes, PV, def. Saracho/Fontes, NMMI, 6-4, 3-6, 14-12
No. 2, DeGroot/Reyes, NMMI, def. Nicolai/Edwards, PV, 4-6, 6-1, 10-6
No. 3, Treat/Higuera, NMMI, def. Weisheit/Allen, PV, 6-0, 6-0
Girls
Farmington 7, NMMI 2
Singles
No. 1, Megan Lynch, NMMI, def. Emily Nyguen, FHS, 6-4, 7-5
No. 2, Riley Coleman, FHS, def. JinXiu Dong, NMMI, 6-0, 6-2
No. 3, Elise Ballard, FHS, def. Flor Toscano, NMMI, 6-0, 6-0
No. 4, Hailie Nyguen, FHS, def. Sofia Brassea, NMMI, 6-1, 6-1
No. 5, Katherine Fisher, FHS, def. Claudia Gerhardus Blancarte, NMMI, 6-2, 6-0
No. 6, Monica Briones, FHS, def. Savannah Lee, NMMI, 6-2, 6-2
Doubles
No. 1, Lynch/Dong, NMMI, def. Coleman/Nygren, FHS, 6-0, 6-4
No. 2, Nyguen/Ballard, FHS, def. Toscano/Brassea, 6-0, 6-0
No. 3, Fisher/Briones, FHS, def. Gerhardus/Lee/, NMMI, 6-1, 6-0
NMMI 6, JV ALL Stars 3
Singles
No. 1, Megan Lynch, NMMI, def. Anita Briody-Pavlik, FHS, 6-0, 6-0
No. 2, JinXiu Dong, NMMI, def. Madilynn Lucas, FHS, 6-3, 6-2
No. 3, Flor Toscano, NMMI, def. Ana Fuentes, RHS, 6-0, 7-5
No. 4, Kirsten Griffen, RHS, def. Sofia Brassea, NMMI, 4-6, 6-3, 10-5
No. 5, Claudia Gerhardus, NMMI, def. Rae Jones, GHS, 1-6, 6-3, 10-6
No. 6, Sian Cordero, GHS, def. Savannah Lee, NMMI, 6-2, 6-0
Doubles
No. 1, Lynch/Dong, NMMI, def. Briody-Pavlik/Lucas, FHS, 6-1, 6-1
No. 2, Toscano/Brassea, NMMI, def. Fuentes/Griffen, 6-2, 6-4
No. 3, Jones/Cordero, GHS, def. Gerhardus/Lee/, NMMI, 6-3, 6-2
Volley shot by Sofia Brassea.
Forehand by Luis Fontes on his approach to the net.
Overhand smash at the net by Angel Reyes.
