Five years ago, the Coronado tennis team faced Plano West with a trip to the state meet on the line. The Mustangs held a 9-4 lead before the Wolves rebounded for a 10-9 win.

When eighth-ranked Coronado and No. 2 Plano West squared off on Saturday with the same state berth on the line, Coronado coach David Denham feared the result might be similar. This time, though, it was Coronado that walked away with the win.

“Plano West is absolutely a great team, well coached,” Denham said. “(Playing them in regionials) was history repeating itself.”

Coronado finished its run through this weekend’s Region 1-5A Team Tennis tournament with a 10-8 win against Plano West, giving the Mustangs a regional championship and ticket to next weekend’s state tournament in Austin. The No. 2-seeded Mustangs upset the No. 1 seed Wolves 10-8 for the title.

“I knew they had the potential for it, but we haven’t fired on all cylinders,” coach David Denham said. “As coaches we believe in it, we prepare them, but they look at us kinda goofy sometimes because we prepare them for things they don’t see.”

Coronado swept the girls doubles competition and Ian McDonald and Jackson Schmidt won at No. 2 boys doubles to give the Mustangs a strong 4-3 start. Whitney Wofford and Mary Alice Blacketer won at No. 1 girls doubles, while Hayden Turner and Nadia Tello took the No. 2 doubles title and Alex Siegel and Karly Garland won No. 3 doubles. While Plano West picked up four points in the boys’ singles competition, Coronado cancelled it out with five wins in the girls singles.

Coronado’s rise through the tournament began Friday morning with a 10-2 win against Plano, a match Denham said was expected to be much closer than it turned out. The Mustangs next swept Grapevine 10-0 in the quarterfinals and came back Saturday morning to take down Abilene High 10-1 in a grudge match that avenged a 10-9 loss to Abilene earlier this season.

“It went incredible,” coach David Denham said. “Being the 2-seed, that starts it off a little bit when we have had a loss to Abeline High and they were ranked ahead of us.”

Denham said he was particularly happy with Coronado’s doubles play. The Mustangs lost just two of their frist 21 doubles matches. Strong doubles also turned out to be key in the championship round.

“I just had a feeling if we could get four, the magic number was four, if you give me four we have a huge chance of winning the dual match,” Denham said. “We needed to definitely get on them because last year when we played them we had a chance of possibly winning the dual match.”

On Thursday the Mustangs will leave for Austin, where they will face fifth-ranked Klein High School. Denham said at 27-1 Klein’s record is a near match with Coronado’s 27-3 performance thus far. The Bearkats are two-time state champions in mixed doubles, and have regularly defeated the Mustangs in spring competition.

“We’re familiar with them on the individual side, but on the team side I want to bet on our team a little bit,” Denham said. “I know we’re adept, but it’s going to have to be a team effort.”

To comment on this story:
courtney.linehan@lubbockonline.com uE06C 766-8735
terry.greenberg@lubbockonline.com uE06C 766-8700