Tennis Tribe takes historic district win to area round
ADDING UP WINS– Firing back a volley, sophomore Alyssa Gonzales and partner senior Jasmin Klassen take out the Andrews team of Aimee Mora and Mia Martinez during district play on Oct. 1. The 6-2, 6-3 win was one of 10 wins that day to clench the historic team tennis win.
Tribe tennis fell to Canyon High, 10-5, on Oct. 18 in Lubbock.
Senior Jasmin Loewen won her singles match and her doubles match with sophomore Alyssa Gonzales.
“So last time we played Canyon we were ahead in every set and then in the second set,” Klassen said. “We lost it, and we went to five tiebreakers which is basically almost in every match. It’s kind of interesting because they all ended up turning against us so we ended up losing a lot of those.”
Other Tribe winners included doubles juniors Jason Giesbrecht and Daniel Fehr in men’s doubles, sophomore Danni Klassen and junior Paulina Morales Mendoza in mixed doubles and junior Justin Giesbrecht in men’s singles.
The Tribe took the bi-district championship, 18-1, over Clint Mountain View in Carlsbad on Oct. 15.
“We figured we would have an easy chance at least,” Fehr said, “and then we went out there and pretty much won everything that we should’ve won. It was what we expected.”
On Oct. 10, the team made history, beating rival Andrews for the first time in team tennis history.
“It was a pretty big deal,” Klassen said. ‘It’s kind of a turning point because they’ve been district champions for 13 years, and we’ve been after them for as long as I can remember. It’s also a big deal for Coach Gersbach and for the whole team. It really helped us finally bond, if that makes sense, and it’s brought out the team atmosphere that we haven’t really been having lately. It was really good.”
Gersbach had beating Andrews high on his bucket list.
“They’ve had it for 13 years in a row and it felt so good to take it from them,” Coach Kevin Gersbach said. “It’s something that we’ve worked so hard for. When I first took over, they were so far out of our league that it was just insane, and it’s one of those things where we thought we’d never get there.”
Area Results
Canyon High 10, Seminole 5
Men’s Doubles
Blaine Dyck/Earl Neufeld fell to Bryce Ware/Shane Neal, 6-0, 6-1; Jason Giesbrecht/Daniel Fehr defeated Colby Rutkowski and Cody Braudt, 1-6, 7-6, 10-7; Alex Froese/Justin Giesbrecht fell to Tate Bartley/Brenden Snelson, 7-6, 6-4.
Women’s Doubles
Lauren Smith/Marcela Guevara fell to Aubrey Thomas/Audrey Jackson 6-4, 7-5; Jasmin Klassen/Alyssa Gonzales defeated Kelsey Braudt/Makenna Wyatt 6-1, 2-6, 10-7; Olivia Mueller/Amanda Boschman fell to Grace Knox/Kaitlyn Leonard 6-2, 6-0.
Mixed Doubles
Danni Klassen/Paulina Morales Mendoza defeated Caleb Reynolds/Brooke Chapman 6-2, 6-1
Men’s Singles
Danni Klassen fell to Bryce Ware 6-1, 6-1; Blaine Dyck fell to Tate Bartley 6-0, 6-1; Jason Giesbrecht fell to Kolby Rutkowski 6-1, 6-1; Justin Giesbrecht defeated Cody Braudt 6-3, 6-2.
Women’s Singles
Jasmin Klassen defeated Aubrey Thomas 6-4, 6-1; Lauren Smith fell to Kelsey Braudt 3-6, 6-2, 10-6; Paulina Morales Mendoza fell to Audrey Jackson 6-3, 2-6, 10-6; Marcela Guevara fell to McKenna Wyatt, 6-7, 6-2, 10-5.
