Eagle Staff Report
TEMPLE -- A&M Consolidated completed a dominating run through the District 12-5A tennis tournament Thursday, earning six spots at regionals.
Consol repeated as the district team champions, claiming first place in four of the five divisions and reaching regionals in the fifth at the Temple High School courts
Consol's 12-5A champions are Frankie Colunga in boys singles, the boys doubles team of Chris Walter and Joon Eoh, girls doubles partners Nellie Hillner and Kristina Raphael and Mason Cote and Mariah York in mixed doubles.
The district champions will be joined at the Class 5A Region II meet by teammates Victoria Liere in girls singles and Dillon Anderson and Tyler Campbell in boys doubles.
Bryan's girls doubles team of AshLee Bilbo and Madison Franze also qualified for the regional tournament, which will be played in Waco on April 20-21. The Lady Vikings lost to Raphael and Hillner in the finals but bounced back to win a play-back match against Belton to secure their regional berth.
Colunga did not drop a set in three district matches, beating Aleque Mackellar of Belton 6-2, 6-1 in the final Thursday morning.
Liere lost to top-seeded Katie Daugherty of Belton 6-3, 6-0 in the girls singles championship match. Consol's Betsy Haberl beat Rebecca Frankel of Temple 6-2, 6-3 in the third-place match to set up a play-back between Lady Tigers, where Liere beat Haberl 6-1, 6-1.
Eoh and Walter posted their third consecutive straight-sets victory in the boys doubles final, beating teammates Campbell and Anderson 6-4, 6-3. No play-back match was needed, because Anderson and Campbell notched a 6-4, 6-4 win over the second seed from Harker Heights in the semifinal round.
Hillner and Raphael will both be making return trips to the Region II tourney after rolling through district. The Lady Tigers dropped only one game in four matches, defeating Franze and Bilbo 6-1, 6-0 in the championship round. Bilbo and Franze won their play-back match 6-4, 6-3, sending Franze to her second consecutive regional.
Top seeds York and Cote went through the mixed doubles draw without dropping a set. The Tigers claimed the title with a 6-1, 6-2 win over the No. 2 seeds from Harker Heights.