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Regional Tournament-Dripping Springs
Short attention span? Wimberley High School advanced to play in the State Team Tennis Tournament
next week.
Got some time? There’s a story here about the joy of winning, the agony of a heart-breaking loss,
and then finally redemption. The 17 teenagers who play varsity tennis for Wimberley High School
wrote the story with their rackets as they played on some courts in Dripping Springs. If you simply
scan these paragraphs looking for “the results” you’ll miss their crazy two days of tennis and how
they ultimately got the prize they wanted through sheer determination.
Who wrote the story?
Seniors – Shea Klepfer (8 wins, no losses), Hendrik Wiedey (8 wins, no losses), Clark Myers, Andy
Barrett (4 wins, no losses), and Eliza Jordan (6 wins, no losses). Juniors – Cody Smith and Rachel
Ayers. Sophomores – Mackenzie Araiza, Kaylyn Hunt, Hannah Whisenant, Anna Lindsey (4 wins, no
losses), Lizzy Lamb, Aaron Willis, Hunter Cawley, Michael Young and Mason Stark. Freshman – Aubry
Ruckman (7 wins, no losses).
Friday, March 5th, Regional Quarterfinals. Played at Dripping Springs High School from approximately
11:30 am to 1:30 pm.
Wimberley defeated Ingram in the Regional Quarterfinals by a score of 13-1. The lead for Wimberley
after the doubles was 6-1. Wimberley didn’t drop a set in any of the singles and quickly raced out to a
13-1 victory. The match was stopped at that point to allow rest for the next round.
Friday, March 5th, Regional Semifinals. Played at the Polo Tennis Club of Austin from approximately 3
pm to 7 pm.
Exactly one year ago Fredericksburg dominated Wimberley 15-4 in the Regional Finals. This past
October Fredericksburg defeated Wimberley 10-9. Obviously Fredericksburg’s drop from 4A to 3A
two years ago has proved to be quite a challenge for Wimberley in tennis. Wimberley’s players
answered that challenge this past Friday afternoon with magnificent play from the entire team.
However, nothing ever comes easy against Fredericksburg. Every doubles match was an emotional
and physical battle. The battles were won by Wimberley time and time again in nearly every doubles
match as Wimberley led 6-1 at the completion of doubles. After taking a short 10 minute break the
singles got under way. The singles proved to be equally challenging and spirited. But just like the
doubles, the close and intense matches started to fall Wimberley’s way. Suddenly all the frustrations
of the past couple of years against Fredericksburg were erased. The singles victories piled up and
resulted in an 11-3 Wimberley victory. The semifinal victory for the Texans sent them to Saturday
morning’s Regional Finals.
Saturday, March 6th, Regional Finals. Played at the Polo Tennis Club from approximately 9 am to 1:30
pm.
The intensity and the emotions were taken up a notch from the Fredericksburg match the day before.
This was the Regional Finals and there were more friends and family gathered around the courts and
the expectations for a Regional Championship were quite high. Wimberley led 4-3 after some tense
doubles matches were completed. In singles, if players are tied after two sets, a super tie-break (first
to win 10 points) is used to break the tie. Wimberley’s singles players charged out to a 9-5 lead. Five
singles matches remained on the courts and Wimberley needed only one singles victory to bring
home the Regional Championship.
Players, friends and family hung on every point as the remaining five singles matches reached their
climax. Wimberley lost a super tie-break 11-9. Wimberley lost another super tie-break 10-6.
Wimberley lost another match in straight sets. The big lead evaporated into a precarious 9-8 lead.
Wimberley lost another super tie-break 10-5. Suddenly the match score was 9 for Boerne and 9 for
Wimberley. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more pressure-packed moment in any sport as the last
Wimberley player and the last Boerne player finished their individual match in a super tie-break to
determine the Championship. Four hours of battles on courts all over the tennis complex came down
to one player needing to win 10 points for a Regional Championship and a trip to State for his team.
With the crowd hanging on every point, the score see-sawed back and forth and was tied at 10-10.
Needing to win by two points the players continued. After unbelievably intense points and agonizing
swings of emotion, the Boerne players finally rushed the court in excitement as their player won the
final two points and took a 20-18 victory.
Final TEAM score --- Boerne 10, Wimberley 9.
Saturday, March 6th, Regional Playback. Played at Dripping Springs High School from approximately
2:30 pm to 6 pm.
Tennis has something called the playback. No other sport does it, but basically 2nd place has to play
3rd place to make sure the correct team is advancing on to the next level. Earlier in the day as
Wimberley placed second to Boerne, Austin Vandergrift was placing 3rd by virtue of their 10-5 victory
over Fredericksburg. That set up a Wimberley vs. Austin Vandergrift dual to determine who would
advance to the State Tournament. Fully recovered from the devastating earlier loss, the Wimberley
doubles teams played with enthusiasm, poise and confidence and crushed a very good Vandergrift
team 7-0 in doubles. The victories didn’t come easy but Wimberley players came through in the
clutch on every court. The anticipated drama of a close TEAM match was gone. Singles were equally
tough but again, the Wimberley players answered the call and secured an 11-2 victory and qualified
for State TEAM TENNIS.
This was a great effort over two days by an outstanding group of young men and women. The
players (and parents and fans) went on quite a roller-coaster ride over two days. Elation on Friday
evening was replaced by devastation on Saturday in the middle of the day. But this resilient group of
teenagers brought back the joy of a trip to State with gutsy, determined play on every court.
State TEAM TENNIS will be played at various sites in the San Marcos area on Friday and Saturday,
March 12th and 13th.
Opponents and sites are determined on Thursday evening at 7 pm at a coaches meeting.
This is the eighth consecutive trip to the State TEAM TENNIS Tournament for Wimberley High
School.
This year’s team will be trying to improve on last year’s 5th place finish in State.
Greg Howard
Asst. Principal, Wimberley Jr High
Head Tennis Coach, Wimberley High School
(512) 847-2181 ext 205
Central Texas 3-A Tournament-San Marcos
A challenging February for the Wimberley high school tennis team has finally come to an end. Four
tournaments on four consecutive Friday’s has been exhausting but the players responded with good
play again in the San Marcos tournament on Friday, Feb. 26th.
Although groups of players were scattered at three different sites in San Marcos, all players had to
deal with the same issue on Friday. THE WIND. While the temperature was almost tolerable (in the
50s), the wind made conditions seem very cold and just down-right annoying. With a constant strong
north breeze and gusts of 30-35 mph the players felt like they were facing two opponents, one on the
court and one in the air.
Results were good in every division but none better than those for the Wimberley mixed doubles team
of Andy Barrett and Kaylyn Hunt. They took first place in the tournament with three early round
victories and then a win in the finals over a team from San Marcos. Wimberley’s other mixed doubles
entry, Mason Stark and Eliska Hudcova, won their first match of the day but were eliminated in the
2nd round.
Hannah Whisenant played well in girls singles and wound up in the finals after three good wins.
Hannah placed 2nd as she fell to a San Marcos player 6-3,6-4 in the finals match. Wimberley’s other
girls singles entry also played well in both matches but was eliminated in the 2nd round.
Boys Singles followed the same pattern as the Girls Singles. Playing well in each round of boys
singles, Shea Klepfer reached the tournament finals where he faced the # 1 seeded player from
Navarro but lost by a score of 6-1,6-4. Hunter Cawley was Wimberley’s other entry in boys singles
and he won one round and then dropped the 2nd.
Both Girls Doubles teams advanced to the semifinals with two good early round victories. However,
both were defeated in the semis in close matches by teams from Brownwood and San Marcos. That
set up an all-Wimberley battle for 3rd place where Mackenzie Araiza and Rachel Ayers prevailed over
Eliza Jordan and Aubry Ruckman by a score of 8-3.
The Boys Doubles division saw Wimberley players bring home a 2nd place trophy and a consolation
trophy. Aaron Willis and Michael Young lost in the first round but then worked their way through the
back side of the draw and picked up the consolation victory. Clark Myers and Cody Smith won three
early round matches but faced an excellent doubles team from San Marcos in the finals. San Marcos
prevailed in the finals by a score of 6-1, 6-4.
After all this tournament play in February it’s time for the team to turn its attention back to TEAM
TENNIS.
This next Friday and Saturday Wimberley’s varsity team will be playing for an 8th consecutive trip to
the STATE TEAM TOURNAMENT. The Texans face very tough competition from Boerne high school
and Fredericksburg high school. Those two teams defeated Wimberley earlier in the year and are
seeded # 1 and # 2 in the tournament. Since only two teams can advance to State, the competition
will be fierce for those two spots.
The 3A Central Texas Regional TEAM TENNIS Tournament will be played on Friday, March 5 and
Saturday, March 6 in Dripping Springs.
Wimberley plays the winner of Ingram and Liberty Hill in the quarterfinal round at 11:30 am on Friday,
March 5 at Dripping Springs High School. The semifinals would be played at about 3 pm at the Polo
Club of Austin (on 290 West about 5 miles east of Drip).
Final rounds are scheduled on Saturday, March 6 at the Polo Club at 9 am.
Greg Howard
Asst. Principal, Wimberley Jr High
Head Tennis Coach, Wimberley High School
(512) 847-2181 ext 205
Short attention span? Wimberley High School advanced to play in the State Team Tennis Tournament
next week.
Got some time? There’s a story here about the joy of winning, the agony of a heart-breaking loss,
and then finally redemption. The 17 teenagers who play varsity tennis for Wimberley High School
wrote the story with their rackets as they played on some courts in Dripping Springs. If you simply
scan these paragraphs looking for “the results” you’ll miss their crazy two days of tennis and how
they ultimately got the prize they wanted through sheer determination.
Who wrote the story?
Seniors – Shea Klepfer (8 wins, no losses), Hendrik Wiedey (8 wins, no losses), Clark Myers, Andy
Barrett (4 wins, no losses), and Eliza Jordan (6 wins, no losses). Juniors – Cody Smith and Rachel
Ayers. Sophomores – Mackenzie Araiza, Kaylyn Hunt, Hannah Whisenant, Anna Lindsey (4 wins, no
losses), Lizzy Lamb, Aaron Willis, Hunter Cawley, Michael Young and Mason Stark. Freshman – Aubry
Ruckman (7 wins, no losses).
Friday, March 5th, Regional Quarterfinals. Played at Dripping Springs High School from approximately
11:30 am to 1:30 pm.
Wimberley defeated Ingram in the Regional Quarterfinals by a score of 13-1. The lead for Wimberley
after the doubles was 6-1. Wimberley didn’t drop a set in any of the singles and quickly raced out to a
13-1 victory. The match was stopped at that point to allow rest for the next round.
Friday, March 5th, Regional Semifinals. Played at the Polo Tennis Club of Austin from approximately 3
pm to 7 pm.
Exactly one year ago Fredericksburg dominated Wimberley 15-4 in the Regional Finals. This past
October Fredericksburg defeated Wimberley 10-9. Obviously Fredericksburg’s drop from 4A to 3A
two years ago has proved to be quite a challenge for Wimberley in tennis. Wimberley’s players
answered that challenge this past Friday afternoon with magnificent play from the entire team.
However, nothing ever comes easy against Fredericksburg. Every doubles match was an emotional
and physical battle. The battles were won by Wimberley time and time again in nearly every doubles
match as Wimberley led 6-1 at the completion of doubles. After taking a short 10 minute break the
singles got under way. The singles proved to be equally challenging and spirited. But just like the
doubles, the close and intense matches started to fall Wimberley’s way. Suddenly all the frustrations
of the past couple of years against Fredericksburg were erased. The singles victories piled up and
resulted in an 11-3 Wimberley victory. The semifinal victory for the Texans sent them to Saturday
morning’s Regional Finals.
Saturday, March 6th, Regional Finals. Played at the Polo Tennis Club from approximately 9 am to 1:30
pm.
The intensity and the emotions were taken up a notch from the Fredericksburg match the day before.
This was the Regional Finals and there were more friends and family gathered around the courts and
the expectations for a Regional Championship were quite high. Wimberley led 4-3 after some tense
doubles matches were completed. In singles, if players are tied after two sets, a super tie-break (first
to win 10 points) is used to break the tie. Wimberley’s singles players charged out to a 9-5 lead. Five
singles matches remained on the courts and Wimberley needed only one singles victory to bring
home the Regional Championship.
Players, friends and family hung on every point as the remaining five singles matches reached their
climax. Wimberley lost a super tie-break 11-9. Wimberley lost another super tie-break 10-6.
Wimberley lost another match in straight sets. The big lead evaporated into a precarious 9-8 lead.
Wimberley lost another super tie-break 10-5. Suddenly the match score was 9 for Boerne and 9 for
Wimberley. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more pressure-packed moment in any sport as the last
Wimberley player and the last Boerne player finished their individual match in a super tie-break to
determine the Championship. Four hours of battles on courts all over the tennis complex came down
to one player needing to win 10 points for a Regional Championship and a trip to State for his team.
With the crowd hanging on every point, the score see-sawed back and forth and was tied at 10-10.
Needing to win by two points the players continued. After unbelievably intense points and agonizing
swings of emotion, the Boerne players finally rushed the court in excitement as their player won the
final two points and took a 20-18 victory.
Final TEAM score --- Boerne 10, Wimberley 9.
Saturday, March 6th, Regional Playback. Played at Dripping Springs High School from approximately
2:30 pm to 6 pm.
Tennis has something called the playback. No other sport does it, but basically 2nd place has to play
3rd place to make sure the correct team is advancing on to the next level. Earlier in the day as
Wimberley placed second to Boerne, Austin Vandergrift was placing 3rd by virtue of their 10-5 victory
over Fredericksburg. That set up a Wimberley vs. Austin Vandergrift dual to determine who would
advance to the State Tournament. Fully recovered from the devastating earlier loss, the Wimberley
doubles teams played with enthusiasm, poise and confidence and crushed a very good Vandergrift
team 7-0 in doubles. The victories didn’t come easy but Wimberley players came through in the
clutch on every court. The anticipated drama of a close TEAM match was gone. Singles were equally
tough but again, the Wimberley players answered the call and secured an 11-2 victory and qualified
for State TEAM TENNIS.
This was a great effort over two days by an outstanding group of young men and women. The
players (and parents and fans) went on quite a roller-coaster ride over two days. Elation on Friday
evening was replaced by devastation on Saturday in the middle of the day. But this resilient group of
teenagers brought back the joy of a trip to State with gutsy, determined play on every court.
State TEAM TENNIS will be played at various sites in the San Marcos area on Friday and Saturday,
March 12th and 13th.
Opponents and sites are determined on Thursday evening at 7 pm at a coaches meeting.
This is the eighth consecutive trip to the State TEAM TENNIS Tournament for Wimberley High
School.
This year’s team will be trying to improve on last year’s 5th place finish in State.
Greg Howard
Asst. Principal, Wimberley Jr High
Head Tennis Coach, Wimberley High School
(512) 847-2181 ext 205
Central Texas 3-A Tournament-San Marcos
A challenging February for the Wimberley high school tennis team has finally come to an end. Four
tournaments on four consecutive Friday’s has been exhausting but the players responded with good
play again in the San Marcos tournament on Friday, Feb. 26th.
Although groups of players were scattered at three different sites in San Marcos, all players had to
deal with the same issue on Friday. THE WIND. While the temperature was almost tolerable (in the
50s), the wind made conditions seem very cold and just down-right annoying. With a constant strong
north breeze and gusts of 30-35 mph the players felt like they were facing two opponents, one on the
court and one in the air.
Results were good in every division but none better than those for the Wimberley mixed doubles team
of Andy Barrett and Kaylyn Hunt. They took first place in the tournament with three early round
victories and then a win in the finals over a team from San Marcos. Wimberley’s other mixed doubles
entry, Mason Stark and Eliska Hudcova, won their first match of the day but were eliminated in the
2nd round.
Hannah Whisenant played well in girls singles and wound up in the finals after three good wins.
Hannah placed 2nd as she fell to a San Marcos player 6-3,6-4 in the finals match. Wimberley’s other
girls singles entry also played well in both matches but was eliminated in the 2nd round.
Boys Singles followed the same pattern as the Girls Singles. Playing well in each round of boys
singles, Shea Klepfer reached the tournament finals where he faced the # 1 seeded player from
Navarro but lost by a score of 6-1,6-4. Hunter Cawley was Wimberley’s other entry in boys singles
and he won one round and then dropped the 2nd.
Both Girls Doubles teams advanced to the semifinals with two good early round victories. However,
both were defeated in the semis in close matches by teams from Brownwood and San Marcos. That
set up an all-Wimberley battle for 3rd place where Mackenzie Araiza and Rachel Ayers prevailed over
Eliza Jordan and Aubry Ruckman by a score of 8-3.
The Boys Doubles division saw Wimberley players bring home a 2nd place trophy and a consolation
trophy. Aaron Willis and Michael Young lost in the first round but then worked their way through the
back side of the draw and picked up the consolation victory. Clark Myers and Cody Smith won three
early round matches but faced an excellent doubles team from San Marcos in the finals. San Marcos
prevailed in the finals by a score of 6-1, 6-4.
After all this tournament play in February it’s time for the team to turn its attention back to TEAM
TENNIS.
This next Friday and Saturday Wimberley’s varsity team will be playing for an 8th consecutive trip to
the STATE TEAM TOURNAMENT. The Texans face very tough competition from Boerne high school
and Fredericksburg high school. Those two teams defeated Wimberley earlier in the year and are
seeded # 1 and # 2 in the tournament. Since only two teams can advance to State, the competition
will be fierce for those two spots.
The 3A Central Texas Regional TEAM TENNIS Tournament will be played on Friday, March 5 and
Saturday, March 6 in Dripping Springs.
Wimberley plays the winner of Ingram and Liberty Hill in the quarterfinal round at 11:30 am on Friday,
March 5 at Dripping Springs High School. The semifinals would be played at about 3 pm at the Polo
Club of Austin (on 290 West about 5 miles east of Drip).
Final rounds are scheduled on Saturday, March 6 at the Polo Club at 9 am.
Greg Howard
Asst. Principal, Wimberley Jr High
Head Tennis Coach, Wimberley High School
(512) 847-2181 ext 205