SAN ANTONIO — Boerne High’s team tennis season ended one win shy of playing at the 5A state tennis tournament.
The Greyhounds challenged defending regional champ Flour Bluff for the Region IV-5A title last weekend and were eliminated by the Hornets for the second straight year in the same round.
Flour Bluff won the regional title tilt 10-2 to end the BHS season at 13-6 overall.
Boerne was supposed to be in rebuilding mode after heavy graduation losses, especially on the boys side, but they went just as far this year as they did last season and played for their second consecutive regional title. BHS coach Tyson Stewart said it’s a credit to the players.
“Being here (at regionals) is a big deal, you’re top eight in the state in 5A and especially with as many starters as we lost,” he said. “We lost five starters on the boys side and we overachieved. They worked their tails off and they wanted to get here.”
Mauricio Mendoza and Nate Perry won at No. 3 boys doubles, while Emma McAlear and Zoe Gonzales won at No. 2 girls doubles for Boerne’s only wins as the Hornets held a 5-2 lead after doubles.
Flour Bluff won the first five singles matches on the court to end it, although the Hounds were up in a few of the matches, but the matches were stopped once the Hornets hit 10 wins.
The windy weather that showed up last Friday morning at Blossom Tennis Center didn’t help the Greyhounds, but Stewart said it would have been tough to beat the Hornets even in good weather. It was quite a contract to Thursday when Boerne defeated Gregory-Portland in the regional semis, 11-2, and it was 90 degrees.
“I think the wind hurt us a little because Corpus (Christi) is windy and they’re probably a little more used to it, but all credit to Flour Bluff, they’re good,” he said. “I think they’re better than they were last year and they were good last year. We would have liked better weather, but if you don’t have it, you don’t have it.”
The Greyhounds dropped district matches to Alamo Heights and Boerne Champion but finished ahead of both in the final standings. BHS beat the Chargers in the third round and the Mules went down in defeat to Flour Bluff in the semifinals.
There weren’t a lot of sad faces on the Greyhound players after the match. Stewart said they realized they finished top eight in the state for the second straight year, technically tied for fifth, and brought home a regional runner-up trophy.
“Anytime you get a trophy from the UIL, it’s a good day. There’s nothing to hang your head about. I’m super proud of our kids,” Stewart said. “If you would have told me at the start of the year with as much as we lost that we would have been playing in the last match in the region, I would have thought you were crazy.”
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