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Houston, West has a problem: Mustangs beat Wolves in state tennis semis
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@starlocalnews.com
Two years ago, Houston Memorial defeated Plano West in the Class 5A State Semifinals, 10-5.
The Wolves had already reached that number of points by the end of doubles Friday afternoon as the top two teams in the state locked horns in a state semis rematch at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Complex in College Station.
It was Memorial (18-0), however, that asserted its dominance in singles as the Mustangs proved why they have been the No. 1 team in the state for the majority of the year by winning eight of the 10 completed singles matches to end West's (23-3) season, 10-7, in the Final Four for a third straight year.
Early on though, the match was controlled by West.
The Wolves had to alter their lineup as sophomore Emily Houston was sick. Houston's usual partner, sophomore Alahna Reto, instead teamed with sophomore Rubina Sarwal at the No. 1 girls doubles line. And that team, unlike Houston, showed no ill effects and went on to win.
Sarwal also triumphed in her singles match.
"Rubina went out there and played really hard today," Walker said, "so I'm sure she's pretty tired right now."
The Lady Wolves won all the doubles matches with juniors Seema Prakash-Cassi Pollock (No. 2) and freshmen Brittany Bennett-Tori Simmons (No. 3) also picking up victories. Add in a win by sophomore Anshul Pandey-freshman Titus Strom (No. 3 boys doubles) and West held a 4-2 advantage. After winning the first set, Pandey and Strom were blitzed in the second set, 6-0, before coming back to win the third.
"We knew it was going to be a tough chore to win that No. 3 boys match," Walker said. "We knew the boys were capable of doing it though and they gutted out that victory."
That put even more emphasis on the mixed doubles match, which was 3-3 in the third set at this point.
West seniors Maddy Thompson-Adam Mlynarczyk broke to establish a 5-3 advantage and then took the third set to give the Wolves a 5-2 lead in the race to 10.
"I felt like if it was 4-3 at the turn then we would win, so when it was 5-2 I thought, 'gosh, how could we not,'" Walker said. "We had the table all set up, now we just had to eat."
That banquet never came though as instead it was Memorial feasting in singles.
The Mustangs quickly took three boys singles matches to even the score at 5-5 and would go on to win the first seven completed singles matches for a 9-5 lead with all five matches remaining on the court either already in or heading to a third set.
West got on the singles board twice within the span of 15 minutes as victories by Sarwal (No. 6 girls) and Reto (No. 1) pulled the Wolves within, 9-7.
Points eight, nine and the coveted No. 10 weren't on the horizon though as Memorial captured the next match to secure a 10-7 victory. This was the second time in the past three years the Mustangs have defeated the Wolves in the state semis. With the win, Memorial advanced to face five-time defending state champion New Braunfels in the finals for a third straight season.
West has lost in the semis during its last four trips to state.
The Wolves haven't won a match at state since 2006 when the team procured their third straight, and fourth overall, Class 5A State Championship. West does have reason to be encouraged though with only five regular rotation players (Jason Jung, Calvin Lee, Sean Slater, Thompson, Mlynarczyk) graduating after the spring's individual season.
"We had a good fall," Walker said. "I think we showed a lot of team chemistry, so hopefully that will translate into the spring and then to next fall when we have a lot of players coming back."
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