The Varsity Dragons traveled to Burnet to take on the Bulldogs in the first district match of the 2024 season. After a brief lightning delay and light outage, the Dragons came away with their first-ever team tennis victory. The Dragons started off hot by winning 5 out of the 7 doubles matches. Colton Fry and Zaylen Kimball took their opponents to a tiebreaker and came out on top, 1-6, 6-4, 10-7. Anthony Clay and Aidan Finn won in straight sets, 6-2, 6-0. Isabelle Allen and Kyla Stutes won via the tiebreaker as well, 1-6, 6-4, 10-7. And to wrap up doubles Kamila Nurtdinova and Samantha McKenzie, and Ethan Borchers and Camdyn Harper both blanked their opponents, 6-0, 6-0.
The Dragons kept that momentum going into their singles matches with Chinonso Ogwudu (6-4, 6-3), Leland Moore (6-3, 6-0), and Kyla Stutes (6-1, 6-4) all winning in straight sets. Tran Le won a hard-fought battle by tiebreaker, 6-4, 4-6, 10-7. But the match that put the Dragons over the edge was won by Isabelle Allen, who took her opponent to a tiebreaker. Her opponent ended up withdrawing for medical reasons before they could conclude the match.
There were 4 remaining singles matches being played when the lights went out. However, since the Dragons had already taken the 10 matches, the overall victory went to the Dragons, and the remaining matches were retired. This victory marks the first time the New Tech Dragons have won a district team tennis match in the 3 years they have been in existence.
The Dragons will take on Liberty Hill Legacy Ranch in their next district match on Wednesday, August 28th at 4:00 pm at the Belton High School tennis courts.