Lake View's historic tennis season reaches playoff chapter
The Lake View High School tennis team has been building momentum since last fall, and now the Chiefs and Maidens will get a chance to see how they stack up in a playoff match.
“We’ve had a really good season and we’re looking forward to keeping that momentum into Tuesday,” said senior Francisco Mendoza, who leads the district champions into a Class 4A bidistrict team tennis match against Wichita Falls Hirschi on Tuesday at Lubbock High.
The time and venue was changed to avoid potential bad weather. Originally scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday in Abilene, the match was moved to 10 a.m. in Lubbock, where conditions will probably be cold, but not wet, according to Lake View head tennis coach Brandon Hettick.
Mendoza plays No. 1 boys singles and No. 1 boys doubles – with partner Erick Torres – and says the confidence level of the team is at an all-time high, and that this should pay off in playoff tennis.
“Used to, in my freshman year, I would get frustrated,” said Mendoza, who said his mental game has improved. “But you’re going to have a bad game every once in a while. You can’t stop that from happening. But I’ve learned to stay calm and play my game. And if I do that in a match, whether I win or lose, it’s OK, because I’d rather lose because the other team played well instead of me being frustrated.”
Mendoza said last year’s young team – with just a few seniors – would “get a little bit frustrated if we got down. This year, our mental game has gotten really good and we’ve gotten a lot more confident in ourselves.”
That confidence could help immediately with the last-minute venue change.
“I’m very proud of how the kids are playing right now, and we are facing a tough Hirschi team. But if we can just relax and play to our potential, the kids can come up with a win and get ready for the next round,” Hettick said.
Lake View is ranked No. 24 in the state by the Texas Tennis Coaches Association. Hirschi is not ranked in the state, nor in the region.
Lake View stormed through district play to win what is believed to be the school’s first-ever district championship in the sport of fall team tennis.
Alaysia Capuchina, Lake View’s No. 1 girls singles player who teams with Chris Moreno for the lone mixed doubles match, said it all goes back to last year, when the team made plans to make sure they practiced together over the summer.
“It really helped with knowing how to hit and learning how to be more consistent,” the sophomore said.
Mendoza said he thinks his team has an edge if it comes down to close matches.
“Almost everyone on the team has had a close match, and getting through those matches really builds your confidence, so when you get into another match and it’s tight, you know the situation and know how to play your game," Mendoza said.
“I think we have a really good chance of competing and coming out well Tuesday. I assume both teams are nervous, but we’ve been having a really good season and if we can keep the momentum going, we’ll be just fine.”
Eric Perez, Zebastian Casillas, Pablo Flores and Jaxon Johnson round out the boys’ roster for Lake View.
For the Maidens, Emily Hahn, Victoria Hernandez, Kristal Rodriguez, Shaye Price, Haylie Torrez, Kaylyn Hayes, Madison Goetz and Veronica Morales complete the roster.