Cardinals Capture the Cougars!
In their district debut, the Harlingen Cardinal Tennis Team unleashed their mighty fury upon the unsuspecting Edinburg North Cougars. Under the direction of Coach Jay Tanamachi and Ted Wernli, the Harlingen Cardinals could seeminly do no wrong.
Most impressive in boy's singles was "Deadly" Daniel Bracken. Bracken dominated his opponent serving bomb after bomb with laser-like precision, rarely allowing his opponent to see the same serve twice. Utilizing his height to it's fullest potential, "Deadly" rained down an assorted onslaught few would have an answer for. He took his match with a decisive 6 - 2, 6 - 3 final score.
Christopher "Bread Basket" O'Reagan brought an arsenal of his own. Always a crowd favorite, you could see him imposing his will upon his opponent with a ferocity befitting a Tennis Marine! His opponent tried, in vain, to find a weakness in O'Reagan by pounding the ball to his back hand side - only to find himself on the recieving end of a ball (nearly set on fire), that violently penetrated his court. In the end, Chris O'Reagan would give up only three games with a final score in boy's singles of: 6 - 1, 6 - 2.
Juanito Flores, after a shaky start, also would not be out-done. With consistently well-placed powerful ground strokes, Flores demolished his opponent, as his confidence seemed to grow with every strike of the ball. "Furious" Flores took the first set 6 - 4, which only saw one break of serve. Flores quickly snuffed out any flames of hope that his opponent had in the second set, seldom losing a rally. Flores emerged victorious with a 6 -4, 6 - 1 final.
Aaron Bosque found himself in a bit of a battle, having to split sets with his opponent. Bosque took the first set 6 - 3 and relaxed a bit. His opponent elevated his game and took the second set 3 - 6. "Boom Boom" Bosque would have none of that in the third set; and, amidst the South Texas heat, would bang the ball with everything he had. In the hundred degree heat, it would be too much for the Cougar to handle and Aaron "Boom Boom" Bosque would win the match in split sets: 6 - 3, 3 - 6, 6 - 3.
Overall the Harlingen Cardinals proved they are a team that has put in the physical work to play at a consistently high level. Armed with hours of gueling weight-lifting, running and drilling, the Cardinals are more than ready for anyone who dares to step onto their court. Some of the other scores we recieved on publish date are the victories of Matthew Montes - who had a tight first set then settled in to take the second quite easily. His final victory score was: 7 - 6, 6 - 1. Rolli Ramirez won in straight sets 6 - 4, 6 - 0 and Victoria Wright (the only girl we have scores for) took her opponent to school, winning 6 - 2, 6 - 0.
RGVtennis.com, upon publishing deadline, did not yet have scores for Jennifer Garcia, Mary Hayden Manning, Michelle Mattar, and Camille Youngblood. We are confident that we will be bringing you more on these young women in the very near future. Congratulations to the Harlingen Cardinal Tennis Team on winning their first district game. We are sure it will be the first of many.
