Photo courtesy of Chrissy Cordova
The Belen and Valencia tennis teams pose following the district tournament on Saturday at the Jerry Cline Tennis Complex.
It seemed like deja vu for the Belen girls and the Valencia boys tennis teams.
A week after wrapping up the regular season district championships, both teams took home some individual hardware at the district tournament last Friday and Saturday.
On the boys side, Valencia’s Xavier Castillo brought home the singles championship during the tournament.
Castillo defeated Gavin Richards of St. Pius in the finals of the tournament to take the championship medal.
The championship is the second in a row for Castillo, who will now look to take home the state championship in the coming weeks.
Isaiah Castillo of Valencia ended up finishing third in the tournament.
Both Castillos received invites for the state singles tournament starting this week.
In doubles action, Belen’s Taylor Wright and Santiago Silva won the championship, defeating Jameson Ferguson and Marl Manuel from Miyamura.
For Wright and Silva, this is their second district championship in doubles.
Luke Austin and Janek Stockhaus of Belen took home third-place in doubles during the tournament.
Both of Belen’s doubles teams mentioned above got invites to the state playoffs this week.
On the girls side, Belen’s Riley Cordova and Isabella Jaramillo captured their third doubles district championship, after defeating Karsyn Cash and Alexia Munson from Grants.
The Belen duo drew a third-seed for the state playoffs, looking to keep their hot-streak going.
In singles action, Jaramillo took home third-place in the tournament. She was invited to the state playoffs beginning this week.
Both Belen and Valencia’s team members that are in the playoffs will play at Albuquerque Academy.
For Los Lunas, boys star Nick Morales received an invite to the 5A state playoffs this weekend.
Morales will take on Keegan Gooch from Rio Rancho at Jerry Cline Tennis Complex.
On the girls side, Taleyah Beyer also received an invite. Beyer will face off with Naomi Recker of Hobbs, then will face Stephanie Romero from Las Cruces if she defeats Recker.
Adam Evarts is a graduate of the University of New Mexico where he studied journalism and history. He has lived in Valencia County most of his life. Adam covers sports for the Valencia County News-Bulletin, including prep competitions for the three local high schools, Senior Olympics, rodeo, Little League and more.
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April 18, 2024
