GOLD RUSH

STATE TENNIS

COLLEGE STATION—From here on out in the tennis world, May 18th should be known as the Milam County Massacre.

The Tiger twosome of Devon Whitsel and Reyna Gonzalez ran away with the Class 3A mixed doubles championship at the 104th UIL state tennis tournament at the Mitchell Tennis Center on the campus of Texas A&M University Friday afternoon.

Thorndale’s Landry Lay-well also rose to the top, capturing the Class 2A girls singles title in dominating fashion.

Whitsel and Gonzalez—who just teamed up this year—become just the second and third players from Rockdale to win a state championship in tennis and the first since Kevin and Ken Cooke won the doubles title in 1985.

It was the third straight year a Rockdale mixed doubles team has played in the state finals, as Blake King and Erin Blanchard won back-to-back silver medals in 2016 and 2017.

Like they have done all season, Whitsel and Gonzalez steamrolled opponents, dropping just one set, in the semifinals, 5-7, before recovering to close out the match 6-2, 6-2 against Alexis Busby and Dacotah Killian of Lone Oak.

Everybody had to fight through the stifling heat at the Mitchell Center, with temperatures pushing the 100-degree mark. Whitsel started suffering cramps in the third set, but Gonzalez picked up her partner with her inspired play.

“My main goal was to just step back, play the point and just keep the ball in and let her do the work at the net,” Whitsel said.

“I’m very proud of Reyna picking up the slack and helping him up,” said first-year Tiger tennis coach Immanuel Peterson. “She got pretty fired up in that second set when they made their comeback. I hadn’t seen her play like that.

“Devon is a dominant tennis player, but he trusted her.”

The Tiger duo continued their dominance in the finals, blasting Brian Van Winkle and Peyton Matthews of Sonora 6-1, 6-0, despite their powerful serves.

They grabbed a 2-0 advantage in the first set and after having their service broken, recovered for a 4-1 lead to stave off Van Winkle and Matthews’ only real threat as Gonzalez was able to control the net and carry that momentum into the title-clinching set.

Whitsel sealed the match with a crossing shot at the net, then fell to his knees and as he and Gonzalez embraced, he lifted her off the ground in triumph.

“They both really served well today,” Whitsel said of the opposition. “Our plan was to just get the ball back to them. It didn’t matter if it was a lob, a hard shot or a slice. Just get the ball back and make them play. Coach told us, ‘There’s no more thinking in this. Just play. Do what you know how to do and that’s swing.’”

“Dominance,” said Peterson simply of his player’s intensity, “but a resilient style as well. Their chemistry played a huge part of their mental game. I told them they had played phenomenal all season, just leave it all on the line.”

Whitsel and Gonzalez both had great success as singles players, capturing district titles as freshmen. That success easily transferred to doubles gold. In a hint of things to come in the regional tournament, they lost just one game.

“I’m more of a singles player, so when I play my matches, I’m really quiet, don’t get pumped up,” said Gonzalez. “But when I play with Devon, I feed off his energy.”

The fiery Whitsel has plenty of energy to go around, with his obligatory fist pump after a particularly good shot.

“She’s the brains of the operation,” he said. “Every time she hits a good shot, I’m thinking ‘match her shot’ and that’s what we did.”

In the opening round against Kenzie Bonham and Austin Fairchild of Ingram-Tom Moore, Whitsel and Gonzalez found themselves in the unusual position of trailing 2-0 right off the bat, after struggling with shots at the net, but reeled off 12 straight games for an easy 6-2, 6-0 victory.

The duo will have ample opportunity to defend their crown in 2018, Gonzalez is a junior and Whitsel just a sophomore.