Photo By Raymundo Frasquillo: Sophomore Keonna Cortez works on placing the ball away from her opponent during a match.
By Raymundo Frasquillo
MORENCI – The Brenda Street-coached Morenci tennis girls were defeated 7-2 by the Bobcats in Benson March 20, edged the Roughriders 5-4 in Pima March 22 and finished fifth of eight teams participating in the 2-day Thatcher tourney ending March 24. The Wildcats are ranked 35th of 55 Division III teams.
This week, Morenci was in Willcox on Tuesday, March 27 and will host Safford on Thursday, March 29.
The Wildcats (4-9) are 21-35 in singles and 12-34 in doubles following eight duels plus a tourney.
In singles, No. 1 junior Reona Alvarez is 4-8, No. 2 sophomore Keonna Cortez 3-10, No. 3 sophomore Corrie White 3-4, No. 4 sophomore Monica Gonzalez 3-5, No. 5 sophomore Madalyn Wright 3-5, No. 6 freshman Izobel Uranzorig 4-2, senior Dayenerah Chavez is 1-0, senior Destiny Wagley 0-1, and junior Arisela Morales 0-2.
In doubles, No. 1 Alvarez – Cortez is 2-4, No. 2 White – Gonzalez 4-3, No. 3 Wright – Uranzorig 2-6, Cortez – White 0-4, Gonzalez – Uranzorig 2-3, White – Wright and Wright – Chavez both 1-0, Alvarez – Gonzalez and Wright – Wagley both 0-1, and Morales – Alvarez 0-2.
Thatcher Tourney
The Wildcats each posted 2-3 individual records against five opponents during the two singles and two doubles matches played. Alvarez and Cortez were in singles plus White – Gonzalez and Wright – Uranzorig in doubles. A pair of tie-breakers was split by Alvarez – Cortez, falling 7-5 to Pima on the first day and besting Douglas 10-4 on the second day.
A cross pairing of No. 4 with No. 3 in the other pool, Douglas, ended deadlocked 2-2, requiring a tie-breaking match. Morenci was paired with Miami, a 4-0 winner over Pima. The Wildcats posted a 4-0 shutout of the Roughriders to finish fifth.
The Wildcats went 0-4 against both New Mexico Silver High and Thatcher plus fell 3-2 to Pima in pool play on the first day.
Results for Pool A were Thatcher 3-0, Silver 2-1, Pima 1-2, and Morenci 0-3 while Pool B had Benson 3-0, Safford 2-1, Douglas 1-2, and Miami 0-3.
Morenci – 6, Pima – 3
Morenci won three of four head-to-head pairings plus gained two forfeits from the Roughriders.
Alvarez (6-0, 6-1 over Kamry Bryce), Gonzalez (6-3, 6-0 over Kayla Cramer), and Uranzorig (6-0, 6-2 over Kylee Wood) in singles along with two forfeits, one each in singles and doubles, were the wins.
Pima’s wins were by Alani Blair (6-0 twice over Cortez) and Madison Taylor (7-5, 6-2 over Wright) in singles plus Bryce – Blair (8-0 over Alvarez – Cortez) and Cramer – Wood (8-3 over Wright – Uranzorig) in doubles.
Benson – 7, Morenci – 2
The Wildcats won two pairings, Uranzorig (6-1, 6-4 over Taylor Lutz) in singles and Gonzalez – Uranzorig (6-4 over McKenzie Kirkpatrick – Tori Hockenbury) in doubles.
Benson’s wins were by KayLee Merrill (6-0 twice over Cortez), Julia Little (7-5, 6-4 over White), Piper Thoutt (6-1, 6-0 over Gonzalez), Kirkpatrick (6-4, 6-3 over Wright), and Briana Schmidt (8-5 over Wagley) in singles plus 8-1 in doubles for both Merrill – Little (over Cortez – White) and Thoutt – Paige Vaughn (over Wright – Wagley).
