Fort Worth, TX - At 9:30PM Tuesday night, the lights at the Central Tennis Complex shutdown as the last players pulled away and Head Coach Wes Madis and Assistant Coach Amy St. Ama jumped in their cars to head home. Just over 9 hours later, at 6:45AM, the lights came back on and the team and coaches were back in action, practicing with the hopes of a spot in the district tournament.
This is the kind of work this program has put in day-in and day-out and all of that work paid off Tuesday night as the Chargers picked up a thrilling 10-9 victory over Timber Creek. The Chargers came into the contest knowing they had to win to have any chance at the district playoffs, and things started off on the right note as the Chargers took a 4-3 advantage from doubles play, including a crucial tiebreaker victory from the mixed doubles duo of
Hannah Addison and
Eric Denis (5-3, 1-4 10-8).
| Seed |
Central |
Timber Creek |
Results |
| Boy's Doubles |
| 1 |
Celedonio/Hendrick |
Massey/Agrawal |
5-3, 4-1 (W) |
| 2 |
Kamau/Sakharov |
Horton/Bevers |
4-1, 4-1 (W) |
| 3 |
Ravula/N. Lee |
Turner/Akins |
5-4 (7-3), 2-4, 3-10 (L) |
| Girl's Doubles |
| 1 |
Baxter/Rhodes |
Levy/Dearing |
4-1, 4-1 (W) |
| 2 |
Munoz/Unger |
Johnson/Wurtele |
1-4, 1-4 (L) |
| 3 |
McLeod/Morgan |
Robbins/Kendrick |
3-5, 1-4 (L) |
| Mixed Doubles |
|
Denis/Addison |
Odili/Wittrock |
5-3, 1-4, 10-8 (W) |
|
Ramos/Bennet |
Poola/Millwee |
1-4, 1-4 (L) |
As the teams entered singles play, the Chargers top players in the one and two seeded spots flexed their muscle winning three of the four matches, led by senior
Christina Baxter winning in straight sets 6-0, 6-3. Sophomore
Hans Hendrick and Timber Creek's Devansh Agrawal battled through all three of their sets with Hendrick rallying to win the 10-point tiebreaker 10-5. Senior
Asia Rhodes had to come from behind after losing the first set 6-2, winning set two 7-5 and winning her 10-point tiebreaker 10-3.
On the boy's side of things, sophomores
Ethan Kamau and
Petr Sakharov both won their games in straight sets dropping just 9 games combined across 35 games played.
| Seed |
Central |
Timber Creek |
Results |
| Boy's Singles |
| 1 |
Zeus Celedonio |
William Massey |
2-6, 2-4 (L) |
| 2 |
Hans Hendrick |
Devansh Agrawal |
6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 10-5 (W) |
| 3 |
Petr Sakharov |
Evan Bevers |
6-2, 6-4 (W) |
| 4 |
Ethan Kamau |
Trace Turner |
6-2, 6-1 (W) |
| 5 |
Nathan Lee |
Ace Akins |
1-6, 1-6 (L) |
| 6 |
Pranay Ravula |
Jesse Horton |
6-1, 4-6, 10-7 (W) |
| 7 |
Vincent Ramos |
Krithik Poola |
1-8 (L) |
| 8 |
Eric Denis |
Matt Wittrock |
3-8 (L) |
| Girl's Singles |
| 1 |
Christina Baxter |
Arden Levy |
6-0, 6-3 (W) |
| 2 |
Asia Rhodes |
Peyton Dearing |
2-6, 7-5, 10-3 (W) |
| 3 |
Meredith Munoz |
Reese Johnson |
1-6, 1-6 (L) |
| 4 |
Kiersten Unger |
Lynda Wurtele |
4-6, 0-6 (L) |
| 5 |
Courtney McLeod |
Natalie Robbins |
2-6, 0-6 (L) |
| 6 |
Abbie Morgan |
Peyton Kendrick |
0-6, 3-6 (L) |
| 7 |
Hannah Addison |
Yora Odili |
8-6 (W) |
| 8 |
Ari Bennet |
Natalie Millwee |
2-8 (L) |
As the contest wore on, the Chargers built a 9-8 lead, needing a result in one of their final two matches of the night to secure the victory, and after Timber Creek picked up a win and leveled the match 9-9, the pressure sat squarely on the shoulders of Charger Freshmen
Pranay Ravula. Ravula faced off against Jesse Horton in the No. 6 seeded singles match and after comfortably claiming the first set 6-1, Timber Creek's Horton rallied back, winning the second set 6-4. With the fate of the whole evening in the hands of the freshmen and momentum on the side of Horton, Ravula rose to the occasion, picking up a 10-7 victory as his teammates rushed the court to celebrate the victory.
Which brings us back to Wednesday morning, 6:45AM, as the program gathered to learn their fate. Unfortunately, the news wasn't good as the tiebreaker came down to total matches won and Timber Creek would claim the fourth and final spot in the district playoff. The Chargers would finish fifth, meaning their fall season would come to an end and they'll now turn their attention to the spring. The tournament portion of their schedule will begin in late January and District & UIL postseason play is slated to begin in late March and continue into April.
Despite the overall outcome, Coach Madis could definitely see the silver lining saying "Of course it's disappointing not to make the playoffs, but I'm extremely proud of how we finished our season, winning a great match against a playoff team."
Keller ISD Athletics offers sports programs that help develop the whole student through athletics. KISD athletics programs will provide student-athletes opportunities to experience competition, leadership roles, self-improvement, goal setting, discipline, coachability, learning from setbacks, accountability, enhance academics, developing positive character traits, and being part of a team. In partnership with families and community, the mission of Central High School is to inspire in all students the desire to learn, the courage to lead, the value of proven character, and the commitment to serve. More information about Central and its coaches, student-athletes and teams is available at
Centralchargerathletics.com
