ccmom
03-08-2013, 12:01 AM
Good luck bulldogs! Defend that title...again!!
http://m.reporternews.com/news/2013/mar/07/wylie-looks-to-defend-ttca-class-3a-team-tennis/
Wylie will go for its sixth consecutive team tennis title at the Texas Tennis Coaches Association Class 3A State Team Tennis Tournament, scheduled for today and Saturday in Abilene.
The tournament, which features 16 teams from across the state, will be played at nine sites with the winner’s bracket quarterfinals, semifinals and title match taking place at Rose Park Tennis Center.
Each school in the 16-team field, which also features Big Spring, will play four matches over the course of the two-day event. There will be 32 matches played altogether.
The Bulldogs, winners of 10 of the past 12 TTCA 3A team tennis titles, are the top-seeded team. They’ll open tournament play at 9:30 a.m. today with a match against Van at Abilene Christian University.
Wylie’s chief competition is expected come from the tournament’s other seeded teams — a group headed by second-seeded Vernon, No. 3 Andrews and No. 4 Graham.
“We’ve been playing and practicing for several months, so we’re ready for (the tournament) and we’re excited,” Wylie coach Kathryn Gilreath said. “We hope that there will be some good teams in there to give us some good competition, and we look forward to it.”
Wylie dominated the Region I-3A tournament last week in Midland. The Bulldogs won three matches 19-0, including a region final victory over Andrews.
Gilreath’s squad will be looking to ride that momentum to a similar performance at the state tournament.
“I think one of the biggest things we’ve really noticed about our kids even more than ever is just the mental toughness that they bring to the court,” she said. “I think every single one of them could go out there knowing that this is team tennis and knowing that, ‘Hey, I could lose my match and the team can still win.’ But they don’t look at it that way. They all go out there thinking, ‘I’m going to win my match.’
“I think that’s one of the things that has made this group of kids in particular very successful.”
The biggest threat to another Wylie championship could come from Mother Nature. With rain in the forecast today and Saturday, the Bulldogs could have to battle the elements for the second year in a row just to get their matches played.
In 2012, the tournament’s first year in Abilene, weather forced major changes to the event’s format. Should that happen again, Gilreath said her team will just have to adjust and adapt to the circumstances.
“We’ll just see what happens,” she said. “That’s pretty much how it goes, and it is what it is. We can’t do anything about (the weather), so I can’t dwell on it.”
http://m.reporternews.com/news/2013/mar/07/wylie-looks-to-defend-ttca-class-3a-team-tennis/
Wylie will go for its sixth consecutive team tennis title at the Texas Tennis Coaches Association Class 3A State Team Tennis Tournament, scheduled for today and Saturday in Abilene.
The tournament, which features 16 teams from across the state, will be played at nine sites with the winner’s bracket quarterfinals, semifinals and title match taking place at Rose Park Tennis Center.
Each school in the 16-team field, which also features Big Spring, will play four matches over the course of the two-day event. There will be 32 matches played altogether.
The Bulldogs, winners of 10 of the past 12 TTCA 3A team tennis titles, are the top-seeded team. They’ll open tournament play at 9:30 a.m. today with a match against Van at Abilene Christian University.
Wylie’s chief competition is expected come from the tournament’s other seeded teams — a group headed by second-seeded Vernon, No. 3 Andrews and No. 4 Graham.
“We’ve been playing and practicing for several months, so we’re ready for (the tournament) and we’re excited,” Wylie coach Kathryn Gilreath said. “We hope that there will be some good teams in there to give us some good competition, and we look forward to it.”
Wylie dominated the Region I-3A tournament last week in Midland. The Bulldogs won three matches 19-0, including a region final victory over Andrews.
Gilreath’s squad will be looking to ride that momentum to a similar performance at the state tournament.
“I think one of the biggest things we’ve really noticed about our kids even more than ever is just the mental toughness that they bring to the court,” she said. “I think every single one of them could go out there knowing that this is team tennis and knowing that, ‘Hey, I could lose my match and the team can still win.’ But they don’t look at it that way. They all go out there thinking, ‘I’m going to win my match.’
“I think that’s one of the things that has made this group of kids in particular very successful.”
The biggest threat to another Wylie championship could come from Mother Nature. With rain in the forecast today and Saturday, the Bulldogs could have to battle the elements for the second year in a row just to get their matches played.
In 2012, the tournament’s first year in Abilene, weather forced major changes to the event’s format. Should that happen again, Gilreath said her team will just have to adjust and adapt to the circumstances.
“We’ll just see what happens,” she said. “That’s pretty much how it goes, and it is what it is. We can’t do anything about (the weather), so I can’t dwell on it.”