The Vanguard boys tennis team finished first at district, while the girls tied for second in the team standings. The teams had wins in boys’ singles, boys’ doubles and girls’ doubles.
Vanguard has a pretty good thing going in tennis.
Inside the Vanguard gym hangs dozens of banners celebrating past athletic achievements by the school’s athletic teams. Looks like the Vikings better carve out some more wall space.
Vanguard’s boys tennis team dominated to win district, while the girls tied for second and “fought with such heart,” said head coach Greta Knoll.
Karch Knoll won the boys singles title, defeating teammate Aldo Ibarra in the final. Vanguard’s doubles teams of James Merchant and Zach Henry along with Ethan March and Hyrum Blackwelder shared the district championship in boys doubles, due to the arrival of rain that canceled the title match.
That was the same story in girls doubles, as Vanguard’s duo of Avery Haynes and Courtney Wiethorn were slated to face classmates McKenna Lowrey and KK Horner in the girls final before the rain washed out that match.
In girls singles, Vanguard’s Karissa Kuhl lost only one match and closed her run with an 8-2 win, tying for fifth.
Vanguard will look to add even more hardware at the TAPPS state championships April 8-9 in Waco. The Vikings are coming off a successful fall in which they won the first-ever TAPPS team tennis title, defeating squads from Classes 3A, 4A and 5A.
Brice Cherry
A lifelong rider of the Houston sports bandwagon and a lifelong hater of vegetables, Brice Cherry has been named the Texas AP sportswriter of the year several times during his Trib career, which began in 1998. He has been sports editor since 2012.
