The Bulldog tennis team earned a clean sweep of the Goddard Rockets Thursday in a District 4-AAAAA dual at the Mack Chase Athletic Complex, while the Lady Bulldogs were edged out in a down-to-the-wire battle against the Lady Rockets, 4-5.
The ‘Dogs were dominant all around in their 9-0 win, not allowing Goddard to win more than three games in any match on the day.
In singles action, No. 1 player Jake Trejo bested Matt Elwell 6-0, 6-0, and Peyton Prothro and Josiah Kraft also logged solid wins against Leo Melendez and Marc Nava respectively in the No. 2 and 3 matches, 6-2, 6-1 and 6-1, 6-2.
Jamey Kennemur topped Nickolas Elwell 6-1, 6-0, Tailor Baggerly defeated Chris Brooks 6-2, 6-2, and Juan Montanez completed the singles sweep with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Cameron Kennon.
In doubles action for the ‘Dogs, Trejo and Kraft topped Matt Elwell and Melendez 6-1, 6-0, Prothro and Baggerly blanked Nava and Kennon 6-0, 6-0, and Kennemur and Montanez beat Brooks and Nickolas Elwell 6-2, 6-3.
“The boys handled Goddard without a problem,” head coach Tim Trentham said Saturday. “We’d seen them earlier in the year at the Roswell Invite and knew pretty much what to expect.”
The Lady Bulldogs, meanwhile, had a bigger challenge from the girls in blue.
Marissa Lopez and Kabryn Conner legged out a three-set win in double play, as did Baylee McKinney and Melissa Richards, with Nicole Marquez and Hailey Ashe falling in their match to make it 2-1 Artesia.
Lopez again battled through a three-set bout to win in No. 1 singles, and Conner took her match, as well. But the Lady ‘Dogs’ bottom four would fall – Richards and Marquez in three sets – to give the Lady Rockets the 5-4 win.
“Five out of the nine matches were split-set matches,” said Trentham. “It was very tight. We didn’t really know what to expect from Goddard on the girls’ side. Their No. 1 isn’t playing for the rest of the season, but we knew they were going to be our competition for district. I’m thinking that was probably a preview of the district championship.
“The boys’ is going to be coming up Monday when we play Lovington.”
The Artesia teams will host the Wildcats Monday in a 3 p.m. dual at The Mack, a makeup of the April 12 postponement due to rain.
“We’ve seen Lovington a few times, beaten them in some matches,” said Trentham. “The last time we played them was at our tournament, but that wasn’t a true format, so we don’t necessarily know what we’re going to get Monday. But that one’s going to be very intense, mainly for the boys.”
The dual will also kick off a busy week of tennis for the AHS teams, as they host Roswell High Tuesday at 3 p.m. before heading directly into the District 4-AAAAA Team Tournament Thursday and Friday.
“We’re pretty excited with where we’re at right now, the girls a little bit more so than the boys, I think, because the boys haven’t gotten to see how they stack up against Lovington yet,” said Trentham. “But we’re looking forward to seeing how things turn out this next week.”
