West Texas tennis athletes bring home seven state gold medals

West Texas tennis athletes brought home seven gold medals from the University Interscholastic League state tournament in San Antonio last week. Among the champions was Wall sophomore Ameila Taylor , who defended her state title in the Class 3A girls single bracket with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Honda’s Ava Lowe. More: Mason girls golf team wins fifth straight state title Christoval senior Zoe Askins took home her first gold medal, beating Mason’s Georgia Hicks 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the 2A girls singles final.

This was Askin’s fourth-straight state tournament appearance, where she won three bronze medals prior. Mason High School athletes reached the state final in all five 2A divisions — boys singles, girls singles, boys doubles, girls doubles and mixed doubles — claiming gold in four. The Punchers’ Russell Watson beat Reagan County’s Gunnar Stroud 6-1, 6-1 in the boys singles bracket final.

More: Wall softball's second chance gives them shot at defending champs Coahoma In the girls doubles bracket, the Cowgirls duo of Taylor Bierschwale and Kinley Wenzel defeated teammates Chloe Swan and Sophie Ahlschede In the boys doubles, Mason’s Keltan Jordan and Cade Dudney defeated teammates Keegan Ratliff and Cooper Ratliff 6-3, 6-0. The Mason duo of Corbin Martinez and Heidi Smith bested teammates Jaxson Holbrook and Camille Schmidt 6-0, 4-6, 6-1 in the mixed doubles bracket. The final state title came in Class 1A, as Garden City’s Presley Jost and Lacy Seidenberger outlasted Knippa’s Madison Speer and Cameron Santon 7-5, 5-7, 6-3 in the mixed doubles bracket.

Other medals came from Wall’s Ava Duncan and Evelyn Itz, who earned silver in the girls double bracket, while Kymbree Hirt and Ella Bowman placed third. Olfen’s Grant Halsell earned third in the 1A boys singles bracket, and Irion County’s Baylee Rainey nabbed bronze in the 1A girls bracket. Paul Witwer covers high school sports and Angelo State University sports for The San Angelo Standard-Times.