Lindale punches ticket to state

Published 5:09 pm Tuesday, October 25, 2022

LINDALE — Wills Point had been the Region II representative in Class 4A at the UIL Team Tennis State Tournament in two of the past three seasons, including in 2021.

The Tigers were looking to extend that run, but the Lindale Eagles wanted to make sure that didn’t happen.

Lindale was in the regional final in 2021 and was eliminated by Wills Point, something it didn’t forget when it got its rematch on Friday at the Arlington Tennis Center.

“I was excited to play them, because I knew they were our biggest competition in the regional,” senior Bailee Lane said.

Coincidentally enough, it was Lane who scored the 10th and decisive point.

Lindale led 4-3 after doubles. Girls doubles teams of Lane and Recci Morgan, Bailey Thorn and Zoe Bozick; the mixed doubles team of Ran Darden and Nicole Hines and the boys doubles team of Emilio Rodriguez and Hayden Harry all picked up wins for the Eagles.

Lane and Morgan won 6-2, 6-2. Thorn and Bozick won 6-2, 6-1. Darden and Hines won 6-4, 6-2. Rodriguez and Harry won 6-3, 6-2.

Wills Point captured four of the five points earned in boys singles with Rodriguez grabbing the lone notch there for the Eagles — 3-6, 6-3, 10-4 over Charleston Sanders.

With Morgan (6-4, 6-3), Bozick (6-2, 7-5), Taegan Michel (6-7 (2), 6-2, 10-7) and Breanna Taylor (6-0, 6-0) picking up wins in girls singles for Lindale, the Eagles held a 9-8 lead with Lane on the court against Wills Point’s Kristyn Dunn.

Lane took a 6-3 win in the first set before Dunn came back with a 7-5 win in the second set to force a third-set tiebreak. In that third set, Lane won 14-12 to clinch a state berth for her team.

“I had to hold back tears,” Lane said. “I was going to cry, because some of my teammates ran out on the court after I shook hands with my opponent, and I was holding back tears.”

“I was right next to her and I had just gotten off a third, too,” Rodriguez said. “I just finished and I went to go watch her and like five minutes later, she won. It was crazy. I was the one who rushed the court. It’s indescribable. It was like a little kid kind of joy.”

“There were just a ton of emotions,” ninth-year Lindale tennis coach Randal Namanny said. “I was just so excited for the team and everybody that’s worked so hard, to see them finally break down that door and kind of see their hard work paying off for them. I didn’t even know we got to 10 in the match. I was with Hayden Harry, and he was up a set and tied at four-all. It was a close match, and I really thought we were down 9-8, but we were actually up 9-8. I had no idea and got told we won. There were a lot of emotions because of all of the hard work, all of the sacrifices that everybody has put in this season and all of the dedication of these players and the commitment to what we’ve been preaching all season.”

This is Lindale’s first trip to the state tournament since the UIL team tennis playoff format began.

Lindale (14-5) will take on Canyon Randall (33-0) at 8 a.m. Wednesday at Texas A&M University’s Omar Smith Intramural Tennis Center in College Station.

“I know for a fact they’re going to be a tough team,” Namanny said. “Nobody goes 33-0 just on a limb, so I know they’re going to be tough. But our kids have played plenty of tough matches. That’s the reason we’ve got a few losses on our record, and all of those losses were close, and all of those teams are ranked in the state of Texas, and we don’t have a single loss in 4A. They’re battle-tested. It doesn’t matter how good the team is we’re going against, we’re going to get after it.”

Among Lindale’s losses are Frisco Liberty (10-9), Rockwall (14-5), Tyler Legacy (10-7) and Longview (14-5).

Lane and Rodriguez said energy and closeness have been keys to the team’s success. The Eagles are also an experienced group.

“We’ve got 10 seniors on this team,” Namanny said. “They’re a veteran team. They’ve all worked really hard for this. For them to see that pay off is so sweet. It couldn’t happen to a better group of kids.”

The other Class 4A semifinal is Boerne (19-2) versus Little River-Academy (15-2) at 8 a.m. Wednesday at Texas A&M’s George P. Mitchell Tennis Center.

The championship match will be played at 8 a.m. Thursday at the Mitchell Tennis Center.

Team members for Lindale are Caleb Sullivan, Reeci Morgan, Bailey Thorn, Bre Taylor, Bailee Lane, Aaralyn Nilson, Fiona Turney, Kinley Vent, Brooklyn Cornejo, Kalvin Dryman, Emilio Rodriguez, Ian Wishart, Sylas Dutton, Jayson Stewart, Taegan Michel, Dillion Steck, Saul Ramierz, Zoe Bozick, Nicole Hines, Ryan Darden, Jason Herrington, Hayden Harry and Soren Petersen, Coaches are Randal Namanny, Ike Anders and Derrick Rogers.