Freshmen stand out for local tennis squads at APS Metro Tournament

ALBUQUERQUE — The tennis courts at Jerry Cline and Albuquerque Academy were packed as high schoolers battled it out as part of the APS Metro Tournament April 21-26.

“We have all worked really hard to get here, and it’s time to put that all on display,” said Martin Mondragon, one of the captains on the Cleveland High School tennis team.

Girls singlesCleveland freshman Lily Walker had quite a run that led to a finals appearance.

Walker defeated Valley’s Sage Pizzo, La Cueva’s Sarah Morgan, Sandia’s Sabina Byers, and Rio Rancho’s Ella Jones before facing off with Eldorado senior Vivica Corley.

Corley would defeat Walker to win the 2025 APS Metro Championship.

Nonetheless, the future is very bright for Walker, who will get three more chances at a Metro trophy.

However, Walker wasn’t the only freshman from Rio Rancho making waves.

Rio Rancho freshman Ella Jones had a nice run, too, winning four matches before losing a tough match to Walker in the semifinals.

Jones played in the third-place game and fell to Albuquerque High School’s Aurelia Fulgenzi.

Also competing in the girls singles was senior Alana Morrison (Cleveland), senior Jayne Fuller (Cleveland), freshman Katelyn Jensen (Rio Rancho) and senior Alexys Catlin (Rio Rancho).

Boys singlesRio Rancho junior Henry Hostetler made some noise and made it to the final eight before losing to Albuquerque High School’s Mitchell Rocca.

RRHS freshman Rex Gould won the first round but then lost to Cleveland senior Martin Mondragon, who notched two bagels in two sets. Martin would lose the next round to Sandia’s Ben French.

However, he wasn’t the only Mondragon competing that day. His brother, freshman Orlando Mondragon, was also competing.

“I got him where he’s at, but I think he’s better than me now,” Martin said with a smile on his face.

Orlando’s day started with a bye in the first round; he then won in the second round and lost a close one to Albuquerque High School’s Cristian Olson.

“I think I played great, but I didn’t get the job done,” Orlando said. “My team supports me, though; they have helped me through a lot,” Orlando said.

Also competing in the boys singles was junior Xavier King (Rio Rancho) and freshman Owen Lewis (Cleveland).

Girls doublesRRHS seniors Emilee Miller and Aurora Espinosa showed some savviness and defeated teams from Cibola High School and Highland High School before losing to La Cueva.

Also competing (but not making it past the first round) were sophomore Molly Lewis (Cleveland), junior Sophia Trappett (Cleveland), freshman Makynzi Dudar (Rio Rancho) and junior Vivian Kohr (Rio Rancho), senior Ali Cato (Cleveland) and senior Olivia Jio (Cleveland).

Boys doubles“We started off really slow, but we locked it in and played our game,” Hendricks said after winning against Sandia. The Storm team won both sets 6-0.

Cleveland’s junior Ethan Hendricks and senior Tyler Nunn advanced a couple more rounds before losing close sets against La Cueva.

Rio Rancho sophomores Austin Searle and Boston Baugh did some damage as an eight seed.

The two Rams players advanced two rounds before falling to the Albuquerque Academy team, who would end up winning Metros.

Also competing were junior Josh Ziegler (Rio Rancho), junior Cortland Flores (Rio Rancho), sophomore Cameron Jones (Cleveland) and senior Daniel Hilotin (Cleveland).

“It’s been a good season as a whole. We are all doing great, and we are going to come back and smack some district play,” Nunn said.