The Boerne Champion and Boerne High tennis teams played against each other in a district match for the first time in BISD history Tuesday and both coaches knew it would come down to the very end – and it did.
After about four hours on the BHS courts, the Chargers were the first to get to 10 and officially won the match, 10-8.
There was another match on the court that they let play out. BHS won that final girls singles contest to make it 10-9.
However it’s scored, the Chargers won the first-ever district contest between the BISD schools.
Beyond the historical significance was the practical side. Tuesday’s win gives Champion the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Greyhounds in district since they only play once this year.
Champion is 3-1 in district (5-4 overall) while the Hounds are also 3-1 in district (10-2 overall). The Chargers’ only loss came to Alamo Heights, while BHS played the Mules Friday.
Champion coach Joey Cantu said Tuesday’s win helps their seeding in district.
“They wanted to beat us and we wanted to beat them in the first official district match because it meant something,” he said. “It means that we’re in the running for second place.”
Greyhounds coach Tyson Stewart agreed that the district implications are huge.
“One of us is going to have a tougher road than the other,” he said.
Depending on how district play shakes out, there’s a chance the two Boerne ISD schools could meet in the third round of the playoffs.
“Credit to champion, it was great high school tennis and we didn’t come out on top, but I have a feeling we’ll see them in the playoffs,” Stewart said. “We have to get better but we’ll see what happens.”
Champion was winning 4-3 after doubles and Stewart said if they could have been up instead of trailing it might have changed the outcome.
“The difference between being up 4-3 versus being down 3-4 is huge and the kids don’t really understand that until you get into it,” he said. “Being down 3-4 you feel like you’re climbing back the whole time and always chasing that other point.”
Once it went to singles, BHS won five of the six boys matches and Champion took five of the six singles matches.
“The way I saw it, we were going to be strong on the girls side and they were going to be strong on the boys side and it pretty much played out that way,” Cantu said. “You just have to flip some of those matches and we did it with boys doubles at line 2 and it was line 6 (boys singles) that got us over the top.”
Stewart agreed that Champion winning at No. 2 boys doubles was huge.
“I think that was the difference maker, without a doubt,” he said. “That was a great high school match, that’s the way it should be, you want it to be that competitive. Hopefully we’ll see them again.”
Comment
Comments