The tennis team clinched the area championship last Thursday against Sulphur Springs 12-7 on October 16-17. The Eagles will take on the #1 team in the Region, Kaufman, at Wills Point with a start time of 8:30am.
“I’m really excited about this group and what they might have in store for the postseason,” head tennis coach Randal Namanny said. “This year we’ve got a shot just all the way across the board.”
At the tournaments before regionals, the team completed the doubles portion of the district Van tournament with four wins and three loses. They finished singles with ten wins and two losses. Their final score was Lindale 14, Van 5.
“Not to downplay our competition at all, but we handled district fairly well,” Nammany said. “We dominated so to speak. In that aspect the district championship against Van was a good match, it was tough and well fought.”
The tennis team began their practice for this season early, even before the school year began, on July 31. They focus on fundamentals as well as live hitting, match play scenarios and strategy for games.
“We don’t want to continue to push kids, we want to keep them fresh,” Namanny said. “We want them hungry to come back to practice the next day. At the beginning of the season we are working on conditioning and getting back into match ready. Now they’ve been battle tested and are at that point where we are focused on some high points.”
The tennis team has made it past the district level all eleven years of Namanny’s time working here as a tennis coach. The team made it to the state level once, which was last season. The upcoming state tournament is Oct 25 and 26 in Waco, Texas.
“Lindale tennis has had a history from the early 90s, late 80s of just being a dominating force in tennis,” Namany said. “This is a rich tradition of winning and I hope we can continue to carry that on.”
