Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
New crown for Coronado girls
First Southern Nevada team title goes to unbeaten Cougars
Coronado girls tennis players deliberated about where to pose for a celebratory photograph after beating Palo Verde for the first Southern Nevada team championship on Saturday.
They eventually settled in front of a fence outside one of the tennis courts.
Another win calls for another Kodak moment, after all.
The defending state champion Cougars (16-0) rolled to a 13-5 victory over the Panthers (15-1) at Bishop Gorman High School to extend their winning streak to 31 and clinch a bye in the Class 4A state tournament.
“The fact that we get to start the program with the first (Southern Nevada team championship) victory, it’s pretty awesome,” Coronado coach David Willingham said. “The season is still going. It’s tough to keep going without losing. They’ve
continued to keep the unbeaten streak going. It’s exciting.”
Coronado’s starters rolled through the first two six-point rounds and cemented the win relatively early. Maddie Smith, Blythe Buntrock and Kennedy Buntrock were 3-0 in singles, and the pairing of Ava Nhaisi and Sidra Wohlwend was 2-0 in doubles.
“Coach has done a really good job making us all do well in the tournament. He prepared us well,” said Smith, who plays No. 1 singles. “We have a good team chemistry.”
Palo Verde boys take title
Palo Verde boys coach Richard Coop didn’t quite know how to react to his team’s victory on Saturday.
Befitting, because the victory is the first of its kind.
The defending state champion Panthers rolled to a 13-5 win over Clark at Bishop Gorman to claim the first Southern Nevada boys tennis team championship and the region’s bye in the six-team Class 4A state tournament, which begins Oct. 15.
“It’s nice to be first in something, right? That’s one for the record books for the city,” Coop said.
Michael Safbom was 3-0 in singles for Palo Verde (17-0). Jack Kostrinsky and Axel Botticelli were both 2-0, and the doubles team of Denim Richardson and Tyler Juhasz went 2-0.
Richardson said he was pleased with how his team performed and is looking forward to state.
“We just came out here and finished business. We came out here knowing what we wanted to do,” Richardson said. “We kept the same focus. Same intensity.”