Decade of dominance, déjà vu: HP again beats West in finals of joint tournament

The Wolves tennis team entered the Highland Park/Plano West Fall Team Tournament with the goal of beating all the Class 5A teams they faced.

That mission was accomplished Friday and Saturday.

But beating all the 5A teams did not equal a tournament title as it was the other host school that won the event for a 10th straight year as the Scots defeated the Wolves in the finals, 10-0.

"We didn't finish well against Highland Park score-wise, but I also feel like there were four doubles matches we could have won," said Morgen Walker, West head coach. "If we win those four and we are up, 4-3, heading into singles instead of down, 7-0, then who knows, maybe we would have put some pressure on them. But Highland Park has a lot of players and a lot of talent and we have to play better versus that level of competition."

West did, however, play well en route to making the finals.

The Wolves began the 16-team event Friday with a 10-0 win over Lindale and then advanced to the semifinals by dispatching of Coppell, 10-2. Though West used an altered lineup in its opener, there were still four doubles teams who won multiple matches. The Wolves raced out to 7-0 leads in both duals thanks to a pair of wins from the duos of sophomore Anshul Pandey and senior Sean Slater, sophomore Race Collins and freshman Titus Strom, freshmen Brittany Bennett and Tori Simmons, and seniors Jason Jung and Maddy Thompson.

"We did what we needed to in those matches," Walker said. "We jumped on Lindale early and then I thought we played Coppell tougher this time than the first time (a 14-5 West win)."

Those victories put West into the semifinals against Lubbock Coronado.

Though the Wolves wouldn't sweep doubles, they did establish a 5-2 advantage in the eventual 10-3 victory as Pandey and Slater (No. 2 boys), Collins and Strom (No. 3 boys), Bennett and Simmons (No. 3 girls), and Jung and Thompson (mixed) each won their third doubles matches of the tournament.

"We were able to get out well against Coronado too," Walker said. "There were some doubles matches that were maybe closer than they should have been, but we definitely showed improvement."

The Wolves closed things out in singles play.

There, senior Adam Mlynarczyk (No. 1 boys), Collins (No. 3 boys), Slater (No. 5 boys), Strom (No. 6 boys) and sophomore Alahna Reto (No. 1 girls) each won. Collins was the lone Wolf to win multiple singles matches during the two-day tournament.

West wouldn't pick up any wins in the finals, but the progress showed in the weekend's tournament as well as in victories over Flower Mound Marcus, Coppell and Southlake Carroll has the Wolves feeling confident about the season to come, which includes an Oct. 6 dual rematch with Highland Park.

"We are a little ahead of where I thought we would be at this point," Walker said. "Which means we could be a little better than I thought this season."

A little better could mean the top of the mountain for a program that has four Class 5A State Championships and has been to the state tournament in 10 of its 12 seasons.

"Making it to state and winning the state tournament is always the goal," Walker said. "And I think we're tough enough to do it; you will see a lot of names out there this year that either haven't played for us or played sparingly last year, but you are also seeing a group that is diving into the team concept and adjusting quickly.

"No one is just going to give this to us, but we have a group ready and willing to compete."

Plano East ties for seventh

West wasn't the only Plano ISD team in the field over the weekend as Plano East also took part.

The Panthers throttled College Park in the opening round, 10-2, but lost to Carroll in the quarterfinals by that same score. East faced a district foe in the consolation semis as it lost to Allen, 10-9.

East will rematch with Allen to start district play when it hosts the Eagles at 4 p.m. Sept. 11. West, which has won more than 100 district matches in a row, opens the 10-5A slate at the same time when it travels to face McKinney Boyd. Those four teams are expected to be the ones competing for the two spots in the Region II Tournament. East and West will face-off Oct. 8 in the final match before the District 10-5A Tournament commences Oct. 15.

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