On April 2, 3 and 5, varsity and JV tennis players competed in the district competition at Glenn, Weiss and Phlugerville High Schools. The individual tennis season, which takes place in spring, is the part of the year when players compete for individual placement in tournaments.

Junior and varsity player Bryce Bailey, who placed second in the district tournament along with his doubles partner, junior Hamilton Watson, is moving on to Regionals on April 17-18. He said that after a tough final (a match followed by a loss) he is still proud and looking forward to competing in Regionals.

“We tried to match the intensity of the other team, but unfortunately we didn’t capitalize well enough on the opportunities,” Bailey said. “Getting second place wasn’t a bad result going into regionals [and] I have confidence that we’ll play well in the big moments and hopefully advance to state.”

Another varsity player advancing to Regionals is sophomore Vishal Ahuja, who won second place in singles. He said that going into his final match, he felt more relaxed than he expected because he already knew that he would be going to Regionals.

“I felt relaxed and nervous at the same time,” Ahuja said. “I was in the finals, so I did want to win pretty badly but I [also] knew at that point I had already qualified, so I was pretty relaxed.”

Ahuja said that win or lose at Regionals, he is planning to continue to play and enhance his game over the summer and that he is looking forward to next year and the future of the team as a whole.

“I plan to just hit and try to improve my game over the summer for next year,” Ahuja said. “What I’m looking forward to is just the depth and strength of our team as we [are] only [losing] one senior, so we can only get better.

Sophomore Shelby Holmes, who placed third in JV singles, said that after spending her freshman year only attending after-school practice while also playing on the basketball team, she is proud to have placed in her first district tournament.

“I knew I had the chance to make the semi-finals but I didn’t think I’d be able to pull off a win,” Holmes said. “I felt super proud of myself because I never had the chance to play at district [before]. My favorite part of the season was the tournaments away from school when we all got to bond together [and] I am looking forward to playing more tournaments. I plan to get lots of hours on the court this summer.”

Sophomore and JV player, Madison DeFalco, ended up winning first place in the singles bracket, making her the only player from both varsity and JV combined to win a first place title.

“During my last match, I felt very nervous because I knew that it was the difference [between] first and second and I didn’t want to come all that way and fall short,” DeFalco said. “When I got first, I was surprised and happy, knowing that my hard work had paid off.” 

After moving to Cedar Park from Arizona at the beginning of this semester, DeFalco said she is proud to have succeeded on a team in which she has found many friends.

“My favorite part this season was making friends because I was new to Cedar Park and have only been here for a couple of months,” DeFalco said. “The girls on the team were so nice. Next season I’m really looking forward to playing and continuing to have fun with the game.”

Other notable victories included:

Nicky Rima (10) – Third place, varsity singles

Sruthi Keerthipati (11) and Hailey Bowerman (9) – Third place, varsity doubles

Hailey Allen (10) and Harshini Addepalle (9) – Third place, JV doubles

Shivesh Razdan (11) and Ronin Vo (9) – Second place, JV doubles

Braden Bailey (9) – Third place, JV singles