Rattlers Varsity Tennis – 2021/2022

Northside ISD Invitational Tournament – Day 1

August 13th, 2021

Reagan Rattlers Varsity Tennis got their season underway in fine form on the first day of competition at the Northside ISD Invitational Tournament being held at the Northside Tennis Center. The sweltering heat and the first match nerves did nothing to stop our Rattlers marching to a solid Victory in the first round against Clark High School #2 Team leading us to a spot in the quarterfinals.

Many new players got an opportunity to exhibit their skills and put their mark on the season. The Boys Line up consisting of Seniors, Mathew Kim (4th year on the Varsity Team) and Jackson Flummer headed the “strike” with convincing wins of 6-0, 2-0(ret) and 6-1, 6-1 respectively. Other notable mentions were their first wins as Reagan Rattlers for Hunter Alexander (6-0,6-0), Diego Alvaraz(6-0,6-0) and Koral Hatipkarasulu (6-0, 0-1 match called because of overall win).

The Girls first match line up was spectacular, with all 6 girls winning their matches in convincing fashion. Melanie Villareal led the charge with a 6-2,6-0 victory, followed by Alissa Ortiz stomping home with a crushing 6-0,6-1 win over her opponent from Clark. The first Freshman on the girls team got her first taste of match play today, and a congrats to Italia Valencia for her first Rattler win.

Overall the morning matches were swiftly contended and our Varsity boys and girls moved on to the 2nd round of Day 1 vs Abilene High School.

Coach Daniel finally brought out some of the big guns with 3 Senior boys being drafted for the match up against Abilene.

Kyle Totorica (State 2021) at Line 1 – lead the charge with a short and sweet victory posting a score of 6-0,6-2 against his opponent.

Another duo of experienced seniors consisting of Joseph Snyman at Line 3 and Deuce Daniel at Line 4,  making their debut start to their senior year, with two more solid wins. Scores of 6-1,6-1 for both Joe and Deuce, demonstrating the depth and dominance in the boys line up.

Our Line 2 slot was filled by Jon Totorica (Sophomore and Kyles younger brother) and he followed up his Freshman season from 2021 in similar fashion with solid victory of 6-0,6-0.

At the line 5 position Hunter Alexander followed his morning success with another 6-1, 6-3 victory and Freshman Anish Sehgal secured his first taste of match success for the Reagan varsity team.

The Girls faced off against some tough opponents for the afternoon matches.

Senior Emily Higgs, a varsity player since being a freshman, was in top form at Line 5 securing a decisive victory winning 6-1,6-0 in short time. This was followed shortly by Kara Greenlee with a similar win of 6-0,6-3 to secure a further point.

Melanie Villareal and Alissa Ortiz took their matches to the wire and toughed it out for over 2 hours in the grueling heat. They both took their matches all the way by splitting sets and then battling it out with a 10 point tie-breaker against their respective opponents. Alissa very narrowly lost after fighting back valiantly from 1-5 down to get it back to 6-7. Unfortunately the game did not go her way this time and she graciously bowed out in the 10 pointer 6-10.

Melanie gritted it out against the Abilene girls #1 player. After going down in the first set 1-6, she fought her way back into the match by taking a long second set 6-4.

With both girls trading blows back and forth and visibly exhausted in the heat, it was Melanie’s moment as she stormed her way to a 10-4 win with a cross court winner to secure the final point in the 10 point tie breaker. This decisive win earned Melanie the “Game Ball” honors for the days play.

Paulina Zapatta and Livia Washington also kept the match spirits high with some enthralling tennis and Livia eventually secured the final point for Reagan to secure the overall victory against Abilene 10-1

Of course we would be remiss to not acknowledge all the other varsity team players who did not feature in todays matches. Their support was amazing for all the competitors. Without their constant cheering and encouragement, it wouldn’t be the same without them.

TEAM WORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK!!!

Tomorrow the Varsity team will take on Boerne Champions in the tournament Semi Finals for a chance at getting to the finals. They kick off with the early matches of the day and play will start serving at 8am. So get your Rattler gear on and get out there and support your favorite Tennis players at Northside Tennis Center.