The Memorial High varsity tennis team became regional champions by defeating Katy Taylor 10-5 in Oct. 31 finals held in Deer Park. The team will now travel to the UIL Team Tennis State Championships in Austin this Friday and Saturday. Go Mustangs!
Only four teams in Texas qualify for the state tournament. Memorial has been the district champion for five years in a row and compiled a daunting 45-0 district record over that period. It has not played in a state team tennis match in 15 years or longer, observers report.
Memorial reached the regional semifinals for three consecutive years – 2006 to 2008. The team was also a regional finalist in 2005, and it has been ranked a Top 10 team in the state for the past five years.
Varsity team members include Katie Anderson, Lauren Bender, Katie Davis, Connie Gilbert, Lauren Heyne, Kristin Holcombe, Allison Iller, Hope Johnson, Alexia Karpen, Rebecca Linville, Morgan Meador, Nava Nowamooz, Hayley Saver, Kelli Stienke, John Davis, Stephen Johnson, Sebastian Karpen, Stefan Lemir, Zachary Marnitz, Amir Rahbar, Grant Riechmann, Michael Reichmann, Christian Vieira, Nick Vieira, Stewart Weingeist, William Whitehead and William Jou.
Memorial High’s coach is Budd Booth.