Photo By Raymundo Frasquillo: Senior Dayenerah Chavez teamed up with sophomore Madalyn Wright for an 8-1 doubles win over Pima’s Lauren Talley and Kenzie McWhorter. Morenci downed Pima 6-3 on Tuesday.
By Raymundo Frasquillo
MORENCI – The Brenda Street-coached Morenci tennis girls return five of last season’s top six players, but they still require a lot of court time.
“We’re young,” she said, noting a couple of first-year players have had to fill out the squad.
Morenci opened the season with five consecutive losses, 3-6 to Willcox March 1, 0-9 at Thatcher March 5 and 1-8 at Safford March 6, and 4-5 to both Tombstone March 9 and to Duncan March 12 in Morenci, before downing Pima 6-3 in Morenci March 13.
After six duels, the Wildcats (1-5) are 12-24 in singles and 5-13 in doubles.
In singles, senior Dayenerah Chavez is 1-0, sophomore Madalyn Wright 3-3, freshman Izobel Uranzorig 2-2, sophomore Corrie White 2-3, and sophomore Monica Gonzalez 2-4, junior Reona Alvarez and sophomore Keonna Cortez both 1-5, and junior Arisela Morales 0-2.
In doubles, White – Gonzalez, White – Wright, and Wright – Chavez are 1-0 apiece, Alvarez – Cortez 1-2, Gonzalez – Uranzorig 1-3, Alvarez – Gonzalez 0-1, Morales – Alvarez and Wright – Uranzorig both 0-2, and Cortez – White 0-3.
Morenci – 6, Pima – 3
Tie-breakers were needed to decide two singles pairings, with each team winning by identical 12-10 scores, and Morenci posted three other singles plus two doubles wins.
Chavez won a tie-breaker over Kenzie McWhorter following a 2-set split, McWhorter winning the first 6-4 and Chavez the second 6-3. The other singles pairings each went two sets, with Alvarez (6-1 twice) over Reah Matthews, Wright (7-5, 6-4) over Kiley Cluff, and Uranzorig (6-0, 6-1) over Lauren Talley.
The Alvarez – Cortez and the Wright – Chavez duos downed Matthews – Cluff 8-3 and Talley – McWhorter 8-1, respectively.
Pima’s wins were by Brookie Bryce (6-4 twice) over Cortez and Madison Taylor in a tie-breaker over Gonzalez, with Taylor winning the first 6-3 and Gonzalez the second 6-2; and Bryce – Taylor (10-8) over Gonzalez – Uranzorig.
Duncan – 5, Morenci – 4
Duncan came with a 5-member squad, forfeiting a singles and doubles match.
Gonzalez won a tie-breaker 10-8 over Lynnie Neilson following a 10-10 deadlock and Wright slipped past Kinsley Rapier 11-9.
Duncan’s wins were 10-7 by Brooklyn Kempton over Alvarez, 10-0 by Kaitlyn Lunt over Cortez, and by a forfeit to Mellissa Claridge after an injury to White in singles; and 8-5 by Kempton – Claridge over Alvarez – Cortez plus 8-0 over Gonzalez – Uranzorig in doubles.
Tombstone – 5, Morenci – 4
The teams split in singles but Tombstone won 2-3 doubles pairings to win the match.
Cortez, Wright, and Uranzorig posted wins of 10-5 over Helena Watson, 10-1 over Brinley Carrillo, and 10-7 over Jasmine Skinner, respectively in singles, and White – Gonzalez 8-2 over Watson – Carrillo in doubles.
For Tombstone, McKenna Sosa, Heaven Murphy, and Arista Bohnas had singles wins over Alvarez (10-8), Gonzalez (10-2), and Wright (10-0), respectively.
In doubles, Sosa – Murphy and Bohnas – Skinner had wins over Alvarez – Cortez (8-3) and Wright – Uranzorig (8-5), respectively.
Safford – 8, Morenci – 1
A 9-7 tie-breaker by White accounted for Morenci’s lone win against the Bulldogs. It broke a second set 6-6 tie and the first set favored White 7-5.
Alvarez (2-6, 0-6), Cortez (2-6, 0-6), Wright (1-6, 0-6), and Uranzorig (4-6, 2-6) each succumbed in two sets while Gonzalez fell in three sets (0-6, 6-4, 2-6).
The doubles losses were 10-3 by Alvarez – Gonzalez, 10-7 by Cortez – White, and 10-1 by Wright – Uranzorig.
Thatcher – 9, Morenci – 0
Corrine Bryce, Laci Whitmer, Savannah Brown, and Aubrie Wright shutout Morales, Alvarez, Cortez, and White in two sets (0-6, 0-6), respectively, while Ashlyn McMaster and Savannah Turley had scores of 1-6 and 0-6 over Gonzalez and Wright, respectively.
In doubles, Bryce and Whitmer downed Morales and Alvarez 10-1, Brown and Wright blanked Cortez and White 10-0, and McMaster and Turley defeated Gonzalez and Uranzorig 10-2.
