Rain wasn’t going to delay Tuesday’s Southern Athletic League clash between Denair and Delhi co-ed varsity tennis.
Coming off a cancelled match a week prior, both sides were a bit rusty but they shook it off quickly after getting a feel for one another in the opening sets.
A total of six tiebreakers occurred on Tuesday, something that is uncommon, but by the end of it all, Delhi had notched the 8-1 victory over Denair at the Coyotes’ home.
“Our team was a little nervous because they [Denair] were looking for a win and we were as well,” said Delhi head coach Felipe Espino. “It’s the first win of the season which was big for us, a lot of my players now have a win under their belts so they all have a taste now to get a win and just happy for the whole team.”
“We had six tie break sets and it just didn’t fall in our direction,” said Denair head coach Bill Weber “It was not a representation on how well we competed.”
With six tiebreakers, anything could have happened throughout many of the matches.
Only five ended in straight sets.
Of all the losses by Denair, only Krystal Fuentes clinched a win over Delhi’s Adriana Gonzalez in the number one girls’ singles match, that ended with a score of 6-3, 0-6 and 10-4 (tie breaker).
“She won the three set tie breaker which was big for us,” said Weber. “The biggest thing we need to work on is technical confidence and competency. We did the best we can with the skill set they brought. Three quarters of my team had not played tennis till the first day of practice.”
Denair is still progressing and Tuesday was another example of that.
The Coyotes’ Wanda Elliot barely lost to Delhi’s Jessica Juarez after a competitive match, 7-6 (5-7), 6-7 (7-5) and 10-8 (tie breaker).
The number one boys’ doubles team for Delhi consisting of Ernesto Meza and David Reyes toppled Denair’s Trent Holbert and Ryan Haringa, 6-3, 6-7 (4-7) and 10-3 (tie breaker).
“We had two tie breakers in our No. 1 boys’ doubles so that was another tight one for us,” said Weber.
Delhi dominated at the mixed doubles, number one and two girls’ doubles and also in the number two boys’ doubles after winning all in straight sets.
“It kind of all came down to those tiebreakers besides a couple of matches, but we needed that to get a competitors feel and from now on they are going to like this feeling I know it,” said Espino. “It wasn’t easy but our girls did a great job and the boys did well also.”
“The positives I saw were kids who are starting to believe in themselves,” Espino added. “We talked about the analysis of the game and now seeing how statistics work. We will see on the time thing, we have practice tomorrow.”
