WACO — The best season in the history of the Allen High School tennis program came to an end at the Class 6A State Tournament Wednesday, as the Eagles fell 10-1 to Katy Seven Lakes in the semifinals at the Waco Regional Tennis Center.
After many years of being unable to make it to the fall season’s final weekend, Allen (23-4) knocked off Southlake Carroll 10-9 last weekend in the regional finals. Despite the disappointing setback at state, senior Jaelyn Walker said this team had unique chemistry.
“We were able to love each other more than any other team I have ever been on,” she said. “We had such a strong bond, and I think that is what got us here. We loved each other and worked hard.”
Despite being without their full lineup, the Eagles came out competing in the doubles portion of their match against the Spartans. Five of the seven matches went to a deciding super tiebreaker. Allen battled back to win second sets in five of those matches, but the Eagles were swept in all of the 10-point super tiebreakers.
Allen head coach Justin Quest said the tiebreaker losses were uncharacteristic for his team.
“This team has had an unbelievable tiebreak record the entire season,” he said. “I think our win percentage in tiebreakers was over 75 percent. Still, I am proud of our kids and the way they fought, under some pretty tough circumstances. We had to change some of our combinations up, but credit to our kids — we had a chance to win.”
Walker and Savannah Cragg won their No. 1 girls doubles match 6-2, 6-3. Perhaps that win was appropriate, because last spring in individual tennis, Chelsie Son and Saheba Singh captured the school’s first tennis state title of any kind.
“That kind of broke the curse, we like to say,” Walker said. “Coach Quest told the underclassmen after we took pictures to remember this moment, because we will be back.”
Quest said he believes once the sting wears off from losing, the lasting memory for the players will be the overall historic season.
“We went to six regional finals but could never break through,” he said. “Crossing over that hump was big for our program and for our kids.”
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