STATE TENNIS
Having previously been exclusively singles players, Devon Whitsel and Reyna Gonzalez have delved into playing doubles with a single purpose—win a gold medal.
Sharing and playing well with others has worked out pretty well so far.
The Tiger twosome will have the opportunity to achieve that gold goal at the 104th UIL state tennis tournament at the Mitchell Tennis Center on the campus of Texas A&M University.
Their first round match-up against Kenzie Bonham and Austin Fairchild of Ingram-Tom Moore is set for 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
The semifinals are scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Thursday and finals are at 1:45 p.m. Friday.
Whitsel, a sophomore and Gonzalez, a junior, both captured district singles titles when they were freshmen.
They fell right into line as Rockdale has sent a mixed doubles team to the regional tournament for 11 straight years.
Whitsel and Gonzalez also had some big shoes to fill. Blake King and Erin Blanchard made three consecutive trips to state and earned two silver medals.
“It was their decision to play mixed doubles,” said first-year Rockdale tennis coach Immanuel Peterson. “They came up short every year at state playing singles. With them being such strong singles players, it only made sense to try out mixed doubles.
“It was rough obtaining that team chemistry early on in the season, but eventually they started steam rolling to success.”
Since district, the twosome have dropped just five games. Four of those came in the district championship finals in a 6-2, 6-2 victory.
Their eye-opening blitz through the regional field saw them lose just one game, coming in the second round.
Seeded second, Whitsel and Gonzalez destroyed the Wallis Brazos duo in the finals 6-0, 6-0.
Janea Larriviers and Noah Tormos of Van Alstyne are the only doubles team returning from the 2017 tournament.
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