Trio carrying Katy banner to state
Katy ISD is sending three entries to the tennis state championships.
The Class 6A tournament is set for May 16-17 at Texas A&M’s Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station.
The Katy Taylor boys doubles team of senior Reese Costis and sophomore Rohit Patil beat Seven Lakes’ Allen Chen and Sai Polepally 7-6, 1-6, 7-6 in the Region III-6A final last week at Deer Park.
Both teams advanced to state.
“After them being down in the second set 6-1, and then the third set 4-1, it was pretty exciting,” coach Tim Calhoun said.
The Taylor boys rolled through the first four games with Seven Lakes.
Then the Spartans rallied to tie the first set 4-4, and it was a struggle the rest of the way.
Taylor pulled out the first set, but then lost the second and trailed 6-2 in the third-set tiebreaker before rallying to win 9-7.
The Spartans were fired up after ousting top-seeded Memorial in the semifinals.
“I was surprised that it went three sets, because we had beaten them before, and my boys double team had a pretty easy year within our district competition,” Calhoun said.
Taylor beat Friendswood in the semifinals.
Now Costis and Patil, who won district but lost in the regional quarterfinals last year, are heading to state for the first time.
“I’m really happy,” Calhoun said.
They open the state tournament against New Braunfels’ Josh Van Winkle and Austin Moninger.
“It’s never a good thing to play a team from New Braunfels, but our chances are just as good as anybody’s,” Calhoun said.
Seven Lakes opens with McAllen Memorial’s Alan Magadan and Daniel Magadan.
Tompkins’ Anish Sriniketh is Katy ISD’s other state qualifier.
The sophomore won the boys singles regional championship, beating Memorial’s Andrew Esses 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Ram duo moves on
The Cypress Ranch mixed doubles team of sophomore Dylan Payne and freshman Melissa LaMette clinched a regional championship last week at the Region III-6A tennis tournament at Deer Park.
Payne and LaMette came from behind to beat Fort Bend Austin 6-7, 6-3, 6-4.
The win over the region’s top-seeded mixed doubles clinched their spot at the state tourney May 1617 in College Station.
“They played a fantastic tournament,” Cy Ranch coach Minh Phan said in a release.
“They had some tough matches in the quarterfinals against Clements and semifinals against Clear Creek that helped them play a great final against Fort Bend Austin. We lost to Austin once before in a spring tournament, but our kids were just excited to play them again and came out with good result.”
Langham Creek’s girls doubles team, consisting of sophomore Sabita Taylor and freshman Polina Radchenko, placed third in the regional tournament, losing a close match in the semifinals to Clear Springs (6-1, 5-7, 1-6) and then defeating Cinco Ranch 6-2, 6-1 in the third-place match.
“At the start of the spring tournament season we made a goal of winning district and then seeing how good they were and adjusting our goals accordingly,” Langham Creek coach Stan McMillian said. “Sabita and Polina exceeded all my expectations and became one of the favorites in our region to go to state.
“We fell a little short this year, but being only a sophomore and freshman, they have a few years to accomplish all their goals in tennis.”