Photo courtesy of Chrissy Cordova
Ava Fragua, of Belen, in action during the Capital Invite. The Lady Eagles came away with a first-place finish.
Belen Eagles
The Lady Eagles continued their hot streak on the season, defeating both Miyamura and Gallup before taking home first place during the Capital Invite on Saturday.
Against Miyamura, the Lady Eagles won overall by a final of 9-0.
Riley Cordova won in straight sets over Ashley Matkovich 6-0, 6-0.
Isabella Jaramillo got a straight sets win over Sahara Kezia Fiedacan, 6-0, 6-0.
Gabby Jaramillo took care of Hannah Elisa Corral, 6-1, 6-0, while Ava Fragua defeated Brielle Marie King, 6-0, 6-0.
Angelina Matski handled Dara Denise Mataya, 6-0, 6-0, and Angelina Fragua won over Amya Olguin, 6-0, 6-0.
Cordova and Isabella Jaramillo won the 1-doubles in straight sets. Gabby Jaramillo and Ava Fragua would do the same in the 2-doubles, as would Delicia Salazar and Leslie Olveda in the 3-doubles.
Against Gallup, the girls came up with a 9-0 win as well, with all of the girls picking up straight sets victories in singles and in doubles.
At the Capital Invite, the Lady Eagles came up big with solid finishing places in singles and doubles.
Riley Cordova finished runner-up in the 1-singles event, losing out in the final round two sets to one.
Isabella Jaramillo also finished runner-up in the 2-singles. She would get wins over Marianna Carrillo, of Capital, and Alaina Viramontes, of Los Lunas, to reach the finals.
Angelina Matski took runner-up in the 4-singles event, while Angelina Fragua took third place in the 5-singles.
On the boys side, Belen took a win over Miyamura and Gallup. The Eagles finished tied for 12th out of 15 schools.
Against Miyamura, Taylor Wright took the 1-single, winning two sets to one over Jameson Ferguson. Santiago Silva got a straight sets win over Marl Manuel, winning 6-1, 6-0.
Luke Austin rallied after losing the first set, to defeat Brody Tah in the 3-singles, two sets to one.
Evan Stynen picked up a straight sets win in the 4-singles over Anthony Karpinski, winning 6-0, 6-2, while Janek Stockhaus beat Sean Spolar in straight sets as well, to take the 5-singles.
Allen Hernandez won the 6-singles by default.
Wright and Silva took the 1-doubles, Vicente Silva and Stockhaus would win the 2-singles and Austin and Stynen the 3-singles via default.
Against Gallup, the boys got another 9-0 victory overall.
Wright and Santiago Silva won their singles matches in straight sets, while the rest of the team would win via default.
Wright and Silva also collected the only doubles match played against Gallup.
At the Capital Invite on Saturday, the boys struggled, failing to record a win on the singles side.
In doubles, Wright and Santiago Silva were knocked out in the quarterfinals of the 1-doubles, while Vicente Silva and Stockhaus finished in sixth-place in the 2-doubles.
The Eagles teams will be in action again at the Albuquerque Academy Tournament on Friday. On Tuesday, they will take on Highland in Albuquerque as well.
Valencia Jaguars
The Valencia boys picked up a third-place finish at the Capital Invite on Saturday, while the girls placed 10th at the event.
On the boys side, in the singles category, Xavier Castillo was knocked out in the semifinals of the 1-singles.
Castillo defeated Ethan Sheppard, of Rio Grande, in the opening round, then beat John DeKay, of Piedra Vista, before falling to Luciano Silveria, of Hope Christian. He then lost the third-place match to Charles Briones, of Farmington.
Isaiah Castillo was also knocked out of the semifinals in the 2-singles.
Castillo got a bye into the quarterfinals, where he defeated Chris Reiter, of Hope Christian. Castillo then lost to Max Van Dusen, of Piedra Vista, before rebounding to win the third-place match over Ayden Connelly, of Farmington.
In the 3-singles, Danny Altobello finished runner-up for Valencia. Altobello got by Jordan Island, of Roswell, in the opening round. He then defeated Jason Holmes, of Farmington, and Marcus Sena, of Robertson, to reach the finals.
Altobello then lost to Piedra Vista’s Nathan Heidke, 6-2, 6-0, in the finals match.
Valencia will be in action against Highland on Thursday at home, Gallup on Friday and Miyamura on Saturday, both of those on the road.
Los Lunas Tigers
It was a busy week for the Tigers tennis teams, as they were in action a couple of times last week.
Los Lunas played host to Manzano to serve up the week’s action.
On the boys side, the Tigers got a 9-0 win over the Monarchs, much of which came by forfeits.
Adam Evarts New-Bulletin Photo LLHS’ Samantha Dodd in action against Manzano. The Tigers lost the overall match 5-4.
Tyler Winters picked up a straight set win for the Tigers, defeating Cyrus Mingley 6-2, 6-1.
Joshuah Barela was also a straight set winner for LLHS, taking care of Hadrian Mingley, 6-0, 6-0.
To finish off the singles portion, Alex Covarrubia collected a straight sets win over Noah Means 6-1, 6-0.
Barela and Alex Covarrubia picked up a straight set win in doubles action, defeating Means and Hadrian Mingley, 6-0, 6-0.
The Lady Tigers came close to a win over Manzano, ultimately losing 5-4 overall.
In singles action, Alaina Viramontes won over Leslie Lozano in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1.
Roisin Shaughnessy was also a straight sets winner. Her win came over Lauryn Santiago, 6-1, 6-2.
Payten Slatunas also grabbed a straight sets singles win. Her win came at the expense of Gabriella McCarthy, 6-1, 6-2.
Shaughnessy and Slatunas got a doubles victory in straight sets over McCarthy and Cayden Von Lierop, 6-0, 6-2.
“I’m very proud with how far we’ve come with the program,” said Los Lunas coach Mike Velasquez. “Last year, our girls team lost 9-0 to Manzano, so to only lose 5-4 this year shows a ton of growth. I couldn’t be any more proud of them than I am now.”
The team then traveled to Santa Fe for the Capital High School Invite on Saturday.
The Lady Tigers took home sixth place out of 15 teams in the tournament, while the boys came in 12th.
In girls action, Viramontes got to the semifinals of the two-singles before losing to Isabella Jaramillo, of Belen. Viramontes recorded three victories on the singles side of the invite.
In doubles action, Shaughnessy and Slatunas picked up a pair of wins before being knocked out in the semifinals themselves.
The boys ended up with zero points during the event, finishing 12th out of 15 schools.
Los Lunas will be in action twice upcoming, both on the road.
To open up, they will take on Albuquerque High, and then on Tuesday they will be back in Santa Fe, this time to take on the Demons.
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
