Newcastle’s tennis duo finishes year at state

Newcastle’s tennis duo finishes year at state News Staff Mon, 05/20/2024 - 2:52 pm

• (TC GORDON | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Newcastle’s mixed doubles pair of senior Isaac King (left) and Mattie Dollar (right) with their regional championship medals they earned. The duo competed at the state tournament last Thursday, May 16 but took a loss in their first match-up in three sets. King and Dollar had a successful season and finished as one of the top eight teams in the state in Class 1A.

TC Gordon sports@grahamleader.com

Making it to the state tournament in any sport is an enormous accomplishment and it’s one that Newcastle has now done a few times this school year.

Senior Isaac King and junior Mattie Dollar, the school’s mixed doubles team, recently participated in the state tennis tournament in San Antonio last weekend. While the pair took a loss in their first match to end their season, they had a successful showing all season and accomplished a lot.

Just a week prior, the tandem cruised through their regional tournament en route to the state meet. They went a perfect 4-0 in their four matches to earn their spot as one of the top eight teams in all of Class 1A.

Newcastle’s team matched up in the first round with the duo from Balmorhea High School. In the best-of-three sets match things got off to a bit of a rocky start for King and Dollar. Balmorhea took the first set with relative ease by winning 6-3.

The Newcastle athletes then found a hot spark in set two as they went on to crush the Bears 6-1 to even the match at one set apiece.

As the teams moved into the final set to determine who would move on and who would go home, Balmorhea jumped out to an early lead by winning the first few games. Newcastle kept it close as they only trailed 3-2 and later 4-3, but the Bears kept their foot on the gas to win the last two sets and take the match 2-1.

With the loss in the first round, Newcastle’s tennis season came to an end. However, coach Ryan Dollar was proud of the efforts his athletes made all season and the finish they had against some of the best competition in the state.

“(They) just couldn’t pull even or take the lead to put a little pressure on their opponents and ended up losing (6-3),” Dollar said. “(They) had a great year going 10-1 overall. Super proud of their competitiveness and great attitudes. It is definitely a big accomplishment to be one of the best eight teams in the state of Texas.”

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