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Thursday, June 05, 2008

Manzano Girls Achieve Goal

By Harold Smith
Mountain View Telegraph
      The Manzano High girls tennis team made it to state. That was the long-shot Lady Monarchs' preseason goal, and they did it.
    Manzano concluded the 2008 season with a duals record of 5-7. They did not qualify as a team for state in 2007 with a 3-9 record.
    But Manzano propelled itself into the state team tourney this year with a second-place showing in District 5-5A duals competition. Eldorado was first in district with a 3-0 record.
    “I think the coaching was like a big contributor to our success and the team going to state,” said Manzano's Alysia Dow, a 5-foot-8½ sophomore from Edgewood. “It was a real good feeling. We lost in the first round, but we made it.”
    Seventh-seeded Cibola defeated the No. 10 Monarchs 9-0 at the 2008 state Class 5A team tournament's first round on May 8 at the Jerry Cline Tennis Complex. The Cougars subsequently fell to No. 2 Valley in the quarterfinals May 9, and top-seeded Carlsbad won the 5A title with a victory over the Vikings on May 10.
    “I was very proud of them,” Manzano first-year coach Megan Brewer said of her girls. “They played in some tough matches against some tough teams. Cibola was very tough. We were all proud that we made it to state.”
    Monarch Tara Rivera was the sole Manzano player to qualify for the state singles competition. Rio Rancho's Jordan McCormick upended Rivera in the first round at Jerry Cline on May 16.
    The Monarchs didn't qualify a doubles team to state. Valley's Thamiris Rodrigues, a foreign-exchange student from Brazil, was the state singles champion, and Carlsbad's Angelica Madrid and Ariana Sharif were the doubles titlists.
    “(Coach Brewer) kind of made it fun ,” Dow said. “Last year, some of the girls really didn't want to be there. But this year, we actually practiced. We were into it. She was actually coaching us.
    “And I improved a lot,” Dow continued. “At the beginning of the season, I was bombing balls over the fence. By the end of the season, most of the time, I could get the ball to go where I wanted it to be.”
    The Monarchs wound up with a 2-1 district record after edging Highland 5-4 in their final regular-season dual at the Jerry Cline courts on April 24. They also beat Rio Grande 6-3 on April 8.
    Rivera led Manzano at the district individual tournament, held May 1-3 at Jerry Cline. She took second place after losing 6-0, 6-1 to Highland's Kepra McBrayer.
    Dow and Jazmine Burt placed fourth in the district doubles competition.
    “I told the girls I was really surprised at the level of talent at Manzano,” Brewer said. “They're outstanding kids, and had good attitudes. They were hungry, and they tried hard.”
    The Monarchs lost two of the 12 girls on their roster to graduation.
    “The girls will be a little better off than the boys,” Brewer said. “I'm expecting the girls to win district next year because Eldorado will be down.”
    Dow's champing at the bit.
    “I think we should do pretty well next year,” she said. “We're not losing a lot of our top players.”
    Manzano boys
    The Monarchs failed to qualify for the state team tournament and did not qualify any of their athletes to the state singles and doubles competition.
    But …
    “We were a lot better than we were last year,” said Craig Jones, a 6-foot, 145-pound Manzano junior from Cedar Crest. “Last year, we didn't win a single match. This year, we won several.
    “I think partially it's due to our new coach (Brewer),” he continued. “Our coach last year was very good at teaching technique, but he wasn't very good at pushing us in practice, getting us prepared for tough matches. Our new coach made us run a mile every day.”
    That wasn't really a problem for Jones, who also is on the Monarchs' cross country team.
    “At first, I was always out in front (against his fellow tennis players),” he said. “But soon enough, the others started catching up to me and even passing me.”
    Manzano wrapped up its 2008 season with a 3-8 overall record and was 1-2 for third place in district. The Monarchs defeated Rio Grande 7-2 for their sole district win on April 8.
    Then in the boys' district individual tournament on April 28-30, Cole Vertikoff, a Manzano senior from the Sedillo Hill area, advanced to the second round in singles play.
    “Most of my top seeds played doubles,” Brewer said. “They couldn't do both at district. Cole was like my No. 6 singles player.”
    The doubles team of Jones and Avery Gurule took fourth place at the 5-5A tourney.
    “My game went pretty well this year,” Jones said. “But I probably peaked a little too early though. I started dropping off at the end. But I did play a lot better this year.”
    Five Monarchs out of 10 graduated this year.
    La Cueva won the state team title. The Bears defeated Valley in the finals.
    La Cueva's Cody Hall was the singles champion, and his Bears teammates, Ian Supple and Chris Dunn, were the doubles winners.
    Albuquerque Journal staff writer Will Webber contributed to this report.
   

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