No city tennis players get beyond state quarters; RR girls fall in team semis

ALBUQUERQUE — It wasn’t the best first day at the state tennis tournament for City of Vision netters, as only one male of three and both females advanced into the quarterfinals at the Jerry Cline tennis complex in the Northeast Heights.

But that’s where their hopes of bringing home a trophy ended.

Cleveland High School’s District 1-5A boys champ Ethan Hendricks defeated Carter Follin of Centennial (6-2, 6-2) in the first round, then was eliminated in the quarterfinals by No. 2 seed Jaime Moran of La Cueva, 6-0, 6-3.

Hendricks’s teammate, Martin Mondragon, was knocked out in the opening round by Albuquerque High’s No. 3 seed, Mitchell Rocca, 6-0, 6-1.

Rio Rancho’s Ryan Meier was defeated in his first-round match by Piedra Vista’s Anson Harris, 6-3, 6-2.

The city’s girls had better first-round matches, as RRHS’s Ella Jones, a middle schooler and the fifth seed, beat Isabelle Lescombes of Mayfield 6-3, 6-4, but then fell in the quarterfinals to No. 4 seed Marley Deswood of Farmington, 6-0, 6-0.

Cleveland’s Lily Walker, who lost to Jones in the District 1-5A title match, beat Maddi Simon of Hobbs, 6-0, 6-2, to get her day started, but lost to No. 2 seed Cameron King of La Cueva, 6-0, 6-1, in the quarters.

Oddly, all 24 singles matches contested Wednesday ended in straight sets – none went a third set.

In doubles action, all six of the city’s tandems lost in straight sets in the opening round.

For the boys, Cleveland’s No. 5 seeds Tyler Nunn and Christian Guerra, the 1-5 champs, were defeated by Linus Wang and Cole Segura of La Cueva, 6-2, 6-3.

The District 1-5A doubles runners-up, Jarret Casalduc and Martin Mondragon, were knocked out in the first round by No. 1 tandem Tyler Kim and Thaaj Bhardwaj, 6-2, 6-1.

Rio Rancho’s unseeded pair of Austin (Searle) and Boston (Baugh) were beaten 6-0, 6-1, Santa Fe’s No. 3 duo of Carlos Flores and Humza Mahmood.

Three girls’ doubles teams also lost in the opening round.

Sixth-seeded Rams Emily Miller and Mia Westmoreland, the district doubles champs, battled back after losing the first set, 6-4, to Carlsbad’s Olivia Glissen and Mariel Aguilera and won the second set handily, 6-1. But the RRHS duo was knocked out with a 6-3 loss in the third set.

The Rams’ Aurora Espinosa and Ella Lapointe, the 1-5A doubles runners-up, lost their opening-round match to No. 1 Eldorado’s Vivica Corley and Addison Arndt, 6-0, 6-1.

Cleveland’s Jade Duong and Sahara Fox fell to Alamogordo’s Evony Lopez and Eva Westover, 6-1, 6-3.

• On Friday, the team tournaments began with doubles action, followed by singles play. By the time the semifinals were set, there weren’t any surprises: The top four seeds in the boys’ and girls’ 5A brackets were still alive.

The No. 5 Storm boys, the 1-5A team champs, sent the 12 seed Rams home, 5-3.

“The match was very close,” Rams coach Tom Gutierrez said. “We were confident going into the match and felt like we had a chance to win; I feel like we played our best tennis, but just fell a little short.

“Multiple matches went three sets, but give credit to Cleveland. They're a great team that found a way to win. In particular, my seniors Ryan Meier and Isaiah Barnett, kept it close by winning at No. 1 doubles. Logan Dudar, a junior, won a close one against Cleveland's excellent eighth-grader, Orlando Mondragon; our freshman, Austin Searle, won in an upset over Cleveland senior Christian Guerra to keep us in the hunt. Ultimately, it wasn't enough though.”

The win over their city foe sent the Storm into action that afternoon to face No. 4 Farmington. Back on March 29, the Scorpions had beaten the Cleveland squad, 7-2, with only singles players Hendricks and Nunn winning for the Storm.

Farmington eliminated the Storm, 5-2. The Scorpions lost to La Cueva in the semis, and La Cueva won the team title after beating No. 3 Albuquerque High, 5-2.

The No. 10 Cleveland girls were defeated in their first-round match by No. 7 Alamogordo, 5-1. Back on April 2 in Alamogordo, the Tigers beat the Storm 8-1, with Lily Walker the lone victorious Storm netter.

The No. 3 Rio Rancho girls had a bye into the quarterfinals; No. 10 Cleveland faced No. 7 Alamogordo in the first round, and the Tigers ended the Storm’s season, 5-1.

After No. 6 Hobbs topped No. 11 Carlsbad, 5-3, the Rams beat Hobbs 5-0, only to fall by that same score in the semifinals to Farmington.

Farmington advanced to the championship matches, where La Cueva’s girls defeated the Lady Scorpions, 5-1.

Cleveland head coach Diana LaCour wasn’t dismayed, saying, “This was the first time for the Cleveland girls to make (the state team tournament).

“Lily Walker made it to the quarterfinals for individual state and lost to the 2 seed," LaCour continued. "Ethan Hendricks made it to quarterfinals lost to the 2 seed. The boys team made it to quarterfinals and lost to Farmington in a hard-fought match, (after the) boys played an incredible match against Rio in first round -- and it was a battle.”

Also in the team tournament, LaCour said, her Storm “(girls) came to play. The wind was crazy and the boys’ team had some players playing sick, which shows their amazing resilience. It was a great state tournament for Cleveland. It was an amazing season for the boys and girls; the boys were district champs and the girls were runners-up.”

Uwe Balzis, the RRHS girls' coach, said, "It was a great weekend at the state tennis championships. After winning the district singles title (Ella Jones) and first and second in doubles (1/Emilee Miller and Mia Westmoreland and 2/ Aurora Espinosa and Eila Lapointe), the girls made it to the top four at state in the team competition.:

Added Gutierrez, “It was a great season and our young team grew a lot this year.”