Three earn their gold from state courts
Memorial boys doubles team, Stratford’s Holloway claim tennis titles
The Spring Branch Independent School District made its presence known at the University Interscholastic League State Tennis Tournament last week at Texas A&M University in College Station, winning a pair of titles.
Memorial’s duo of senior Sam Giammalva and junior Max Palmer claimed the Class 6A boys doubles crown, while Stratford senior Josh Holloway won the Class 5A boys singles title.
It’s the third year in a row that a Memorial boys doubles tandem came out on top, with William Jou and Grant Reichmann winning in 2013 and Giammalva teaming up with cousin Ciro Lampasas a year ago before his title run with Palmer.
Memorial head coach Budd Booth is proud of the Mustangs’ streak.
“You can put two good singles players on the court and that doesn’t mean they’ll make a good doubles team,” Booth said. “You have to play a lot of matches with your partner and learn how to anticipate what they are going to do, like where they like to serve or when to poach. There’s a lot of strategy involved and you have to have the right chemistry.”
It was obvious from the start that Giammalva, a Texas A&M University signee, and Palmer, a state-ranked junior, would make a winning combination.
“We both serve big and our returns are pretty good,” Palmer said. “We try to step into the court and go for our shots.”
“We’ve played together in junior tournaments for a couple of years, so we know each other’s games well,” Giammalva said. “It makes a difference.”
Giammalva and Palmer opened state by sweeping past Austin Westlake’s Marcos Sweeny and Julia Sweeny 6-4, 6-0 in the quarterfinals. But the Mustangs players battled past New Braunfels’ Cole Davis and Paco Bendana in the semifinals, winning a pair of tiebreakers 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3).
“The New Braunfels team played well, but we weren’t aggressive enough,” Palmer said. “We knew we had to change that for the finals.”
With a state title on the line, Giammalva and Palmer blitzed El Paso Coronado’s Wilson Lambeth and Cameron Bilsbarrow 6-3, 6-2 in the championship match.
“Sam and Max were outstanding,” Booth