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Spence Jones works on his serve during practice last week. Snyder will open the team tennis season at Vernon and Iowa Park Thursday. The matches at Vernon will start at 9 a.m. and the matches at Iowa Park will begin at 1 p.m.
Tennis season is around the corner for Snyder High School.
Snyder will play at Vernon and Iowa Park in its season opener Thursday. Matches at Vernon will start at 9 a.m. and Iowa Park matches are scheduled to start at 1 p.m.
“Tennis is a year-round sport, so we get started quicker,” Snyder head coach Coby Hamlin said. “There are a lot of good tennis programs in Texas and we wanted to play tough competition early in the season. We lost to Vernon in the playoffs the last two years.”
Hamlin expects a tough match against Iowa Park.
“Iowa Park is right behind Vernon,” he said. “Playing both teams early in the season will help us. We could play one of those teams in the playoffs.”
The fall team tennis schedule and format is different than the spring season.
“Players can play singles and doubles in team tennis,” Hamlin said. “You can win every match, but it doesn’t matter because a team needs to win 10 matches.”
Snyder will continue its non-district schedule with Borger, Fort Stockton, Levelland, Brownwood, Seminole and Graham.
The District 5-4A opener will be at San Angelo Lake View Sept. 13.
“We are excited about the new district,” Hamlin said. “We don’t play Wylie, but it still is a competitive district. Big Spring beat us 10-9 last year, we defeated Sweetwater and we lost to Midland Greenwood last year. Lake View is dropping down from Class 5A and will have a strong team.”
Seniors Spence Jone, Zaylie Sanchez and Nirvana Campos will be three of the players to watch.
Hamlin said Jones will be the No. 1 player for the boys’ team. He said Campos and Sanchez will fill the top two spots for the girls’ team. The other playing spots remain open.
“Spence and Zaylie have been in the program since the eighth grade and Zaylie since the seventh grade,” Hamlin said. “I watched them come up from junior high school to high school. They have improved every year with hard work. I know they want a good senior season.”
Hamlin said he expects the younger players to play a key role this season.
“We have younger players like Carolyn Stelluti and Evelyn Kerr,” he said. “Carolyn is a sophomore who started playing in the seventh grade. Evelyn started playing last year as a junior. She is playing better and worked hard all summer. We have a lot of younger players coming on.”
SHS Tennis Schedule
Aug. 2 Vernon 9 a.m. Away
Aug. 2 Iowa Park 1 p.m. Away
Aug. 9 Borger noon Home
Aug. 11 Odessa 10 a.m. Away
Aug. 18 Levelland-x TBA Away
Aug. 25 Fort Stockton-x 9 a.m. Away
Aug. 28 Levelland 4 p.m. Home
Sept. 1 Brownwood 2 p.m. Sweetwater
Sept. 4 Seminole 4 p.m. Home
Sept. 8 Graham 10 a.m. Wylie
Sept. 13 San Angelo Lake View-y 3:45 p.m. Away
Sept. 20 Midland Greenwood-y 3 p.m. Home
Sept. 27 Sweetwater-y 3:45 p.m. Away
Sept. 29 Shallowater 10 a.m. Away
Oct. 15 Big Spring-y 3 p.m. Home
x — Quad matches
y — District 5-4A match