Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Clovis High senior Rohan Angadi is the Wildcats' No. 1 player heading into the season, which begins today and Saturday in the Lea County Open at Lovington.
Clovis High senior Kylee Brooks is one of three seniors expected to lead the Lady Wildcats' tennis team this season.
CLOVIS — After not getting anybody into Class 6A state competition last spring, Clovis High tennis coach Brenna Silveira has what appears to be modest goals for the coming year.
That still includes getting to state. But Silveira, in her third season, knows it'll be a tough task with a new district that includes Eldorado and La Cueva.
"It'd be nice if we could finish third," she said of the new District 2-6A. "If we can get higher than third, that's great."
Clovis teams open the season today in a the two-day Lea County Open at Lovington.
The boys and girls squads each have some experience returning, led by three seniors in both cases.
"The first month will be (mainly) for conditioning and working on technique," Silveira said. "I'm already seeing improvement, so that gives us a good starting point.
For the boys, Rohan Angadi, Nick Donaldson and J.J. Alvarado all have at least a couple of years under their belts at the varsity level.
"We have a pretty experienced team," Angadi said. "I think this is going to be our 'golden' year. I think we have a chance to do third (in the district), or better."
"I really want to just try my best and improve as the year goes on."
This weekend's tournament is essentially a six-school round robin, which each team playing two singles and two doubles matches against the other five schools. Other making the trip for the Wildcats are juniors Colby Coiner, Tony Betts and Keltin Lamb, sophomore Sumito Richeson and freshman David Heath.
The three seniors for the girls are Kylee Brooks, Madison Credle and Mya Grimes. Four juniors are also slated to play this weekend — Jadan Andersen, Ariana Salais, Andrea Abril and J'Lee Fuqua.
"Kylee should do well in singles this year," Silveira said. "Mya and Madi should be strong in doubles, although I don't know if they'll (play) No. 1 or No. 2."
Brooks, also entering her third year on varsity, has set some relatively high goals for herself.
"I want to improve and be able to compete with the top players in New Mexico," she said, adding that she's hopeful the Lady Wildcats can compete for a state berth."
After this weekend's event, the Cats and Lady Cats return to action on Thursday in a day-long tournament at Levelland.
CHS SCHEDULE
February
24-25 - Lea County Open at Lovington.
March
2 - at SPCHEA tournament at Levelland; 10-11 - at Claire Higgins Invitational at Carlsbad; 14 - Roswell Goddard, 3 p.m.; 21 - Portales, 3 p.m.
April
1 - Manzano, 1 p.m.-x; 7 - at Eldorado, 3:30 p.m.-x; 8 - at La Cueva, 9 a.m.-x; 15 - Sandia, 1 p.m.-x; 21 - at Santa Fe High, 2:30 p.m.-x; 28-29 - District 2-6A tournament at Albuquerque.
x-Denotes District 2-6A matches.
