The Brahma tennis team recently competed at their district tournament. Kneeling in the front row (left to right) are Mark Zamora, Sarah Sedory, Joseph Galindo, Candice Mireles, JoLiza Barrera and J.C. Gonzalez. Standing (left to right) are Ricky Gonzalez, Hope Castendea, Racheal Rubio, Aaron Gerragauch, Reality Winner, Mat Perez and Wil Riley. H.M. King High School’s tennis team recently competed in the District 31- 4A tournament.

The Brahmas defeated Laredo schools Cigarroa, Nixon and Alice before losing to Laredo LBJ 10-6.

In the boys doubles competition against LBJ, Matthew Perez and Ricky Gonzalez lost 6-4 and 6-1; J.C. Gonzalez and Joseph Galindo lost 6-3 and 6-2; and Michael Zamora and Wil Reily lost 6-1 and 6-1.

Competing in girls doubles, Reality Winner and Hope Castaneda won 6-2 and 6-1; Jiselle Moreno and Abygail Sedory lost 6-7; and JoLiza Barrera and Candice Mireles lost 6-0 and 6-3.

Aaron Gerragauch won his boys singles match 6-3 and 6-1.

Also competing in boys singles were R. Gonzalez, Perez, Galindo, J.C. Gonzalez and Zamora.

In girls singles, Rubio won 6-3 and 6-3 and Winner was also victorious 6-3 and 6-2.

Also competing in girls singles were Castaneda, Sedory, Moreno and Barrera. Rubio and Gerragauch won their mixed doubles match 6-1 and 6-0.

Coach Ed Gonzales said he was pleased with his young squad’s performance.

“Our team did great but I think our youth and inexperience showed up at the district tournament,” Gonzales said. “The girls did a great job in the three wins we had over Laredo Nixon, Cigarroa and Alice. When we went up against LBJ, you can tell our freshman were a little overwhelmed but I did see some good signs of improvement and am looking forward to working with them in the coming years.”

The tennis season now shifts from overall team competition to more individual contests. H.M. King will host the Kingsville Invitational at Calallen High School this week; the location of the event was changed because of construction going on at Texas A&M University- Kingsville.

“This is the first tournament where our players will start specializing in either singles, doubles or mixed doubles,” Gonzales said. “So within the next couple of weeks we will be talking with the players about their strengths and choices in all three events.”

Brahma tennis players now compete with opponents in their own class and specialty.

“Usually we keep the freshman in their own division, the sophomores and juniors in junior varsity and the seniors have to play varsity,” Gonzales said.

“That is the good thing about playing team tennis, it lets us look at each player in each event to help us decide which they should focus on.”