Weather limits team’s time on tennis courts

By Sam Waller

Albany athletes had one last opportunity to prepare for district tennis competition this week after taking a week off for spring break.

Albany visited Snyder for a dual match Thursday, March 24 (today) in its final outing before the District 10-2A tournament.

“We’re just trying to get some practice in,” coach M.J. Reneau said. “We’ve had bad weather, and we’re hoping it will get better so we can prepare and get our lineup set for district.”

The district tournament is scheduled for Monday, March 28 and Friday, April 1 at Rose Park Tennis Center in Abilene. The top two finishers in each draw advance to the Region II-2A tournament, scheduled for April 11-12 in North Richland Hills.

In draws where the championship loser and third place winner have not met in the semifinals, a playback will determine the second regional berth.

Albany enters district with nine players looking to return to regional. Sarah Cotter, who reached the Class 2A state final, and Sidney Russell advanced in girls singles, while the girls doubles pair of Susie Cormack and Ella Webb also qualified.

On the boys side, singles player Brayden Watson and doubles partners Cooper Fairchild and Luke Ivy all advanced.

In mixed doubles, the duo of Jaci Chapman and Mikey Hernandez qualified, while Chloe Daugherty and Keatin Russell were regional alternates.

“We have 24 kids out for tennis this year, so we have a really good group with lots of talent,” Reneau said. “There a couple of kids that could go singles or doubles. With the young ones, we’re just trying to pair people up with the best fit.”