The tennis team defeated Fort Stockton, 10-1, in the area championship match on Oct. 29.

The team will face San Angelo Lake View in region quarterfinals on Nov. 3 in Big Spring beginning at 10 a.m.

  Tribe tennis took an 11-1 bi-district win over Sweetwater on Oct. 26 in a competition that was moved from Big Spring to Wink due to weather.

  “I am just glad we were able to get that match in,” Coach Dylan Strickland said. “Although Wink was dry, it was very cold and still very windy, I’m proud of my kids going out there and taking care of business.”

  Strickland came to Seminole from a coaching position at Seward College where the tennis team took three junior college national championships in the two years he was there. 

   “My transition from coaching college tennis to high school has been basically seamless,” Strickland said. “I have a great group of kids who work very hard in the classroom and on the court.”

  The team swept through district undefeated before taking the bi-district championship. 

  “At first I thought it’d be awkward with a new coach,” senior Jason Giesbrecht said. “Once we got used to him, it was almost like he had been our coach for years. I like that he understands us.”

  Strickland encourages his team with friendly competition at practice. 

  “One of our teams biggest strengths is togetherness,” Strickland said. “A good example of work ethic and togetherness is as follows: often in practice we have competitions where the losers will have to run or participate in some form of exercise. As the losing team was lining up to run a mile, without me saying anything, the winners joined them, and they ran as a team.”

  They built a bond. 

  “The key for our team’s success is probably confidence and how we get along with each other really well,” Giesbrecht said. “We are family, and we just help pump each other up.”

  Senior Marcela Guevara and her doubles partner senior Paulina Morales Mendoza are undefeated thoughout district and bi-district and looked forward to area competition. 

    “I think the outcome will be an easy win for us because we have improved so much since last year,” Guevara said. “We’ve seen these people play; they’re not going to know what to expect from us. This season is super promising, I think we’ll go far.”