The Lake Travis tennis team has made history by winning its region Oct. 28-29 to advance to the state team tennis tournament.

“The team showed that hard work pays off and that teamwork and good sportsmanship always prevail,” said tennis coach Carol Creel. “This is such a great preparation for all of the players who will go on to play college tennis as high school team tennis mirrors the college tennis experience.”
Over the last six years Region 4 has included two of the best four teams in the state each year with only one of those teams moving on to the state tournament.
This year the Lake Travis Cavaliers vanquished its foes to advance. The team posted two impressive wins against Boerne and Alamo Heights. The team finished second to Boerne last year in a close battle 10-8 and went out to Alamo Heights in the semifinals the year before, so beating both of those teams to make it to state was all that much sweeter.
The regional tournament started out Friday with the first round match against Mercedes in the morning and Floresville in the afternoon. Team tennis takes a minimum of 14 players with three boys’ doubles, three girls’ doubles, one mixed doubles and 12 singles matches, but the depth in the Cavalier team gave 30 players a chance to contribute to the victories on the road to state.
Players posting wins against Mercedes and Floresville included Tristan Wise, Nick Ruzicka, Tyler Wilkie, Alex Gosch, Sam Thomas, Ryan Mitamura, Sam Laudon, Oliver Seifert, Kristen Thorne, Remi Immler, Emily Humphrey, Lexie Wilson, Hunyeh Hoghooghi, Lauren Schulte, Emily Wilson, Megan Schoonmaker, B.G. Slay, Austin Mayo, Jaxon Immler, Carrick Kampe and Courney Schulte.
On Saturday the showdown began. Boerne came out firing as they always do in doubles. Lake Travis pulled out four lines of doubles with wins by Mayo-Jaxon Immler, Wise-Ruzicka, Brown-C. Schulte and Remi Immler-Meyer. Going into singles play with six matches left to clinch the overall match wins by Sam Laudon, Adam Dokos, Nick Ruzicka, Ryan Brown brought the total to eight. Then senior Austin Mayo put the score at 9 and freshman Remi Immler clinched the match with her win. The final score was 10-4.
With Alamo Heights defeating Vandegrift in the other semifinal the afternoon final was set. Lake Travis had worked off some of their nerves in the contentious match against Boerne and came out hot in the doubles. Wins by Laudon-Seifert, Wise-Ruzicka, Dokos-Schoonmaker, Lauren Schulte-Hoghooghi and Remi Immler-Meyer put the team up 5-2. Singles wins by Austin Mayo, Sam Laudon, Ryan Brown brought the team within two matches of the regional victory. Junior standout Adam Dokos won his singles match with a second set score of 6-0 to make it 9.
Then once again freshman Remi Immler posted the 10th win and the team started the celebration with her brother Jaxon (team captain) lifting her up in the air and all of the team members rushing the court to celebrate the team’s win. The final score was 10-3 with matches left on the court in good shape to post several more victories including Oliver Seifert’s split set match against last year’s state singles qualifier Russell Naumann.
State is this weekend in College Station where the Cavaliers are seeded number 2. This is the first year in team tennis history that state has not been held in Austin. Frequently, the tournament has been held at World of Tennis where many of the LT team members train.
Creel isn’t too sad though as she grew up in College Station and played for A&M Consolidated when their team went to state back in 1986 and feels right at home.
Coach Tim Bourke told the team before the finals in San Antonio that they were ready.
“Leave it all out on the court and have no regrets this weekend,” Bourke said.
The first round of the state touney is Friday at 1 p.m. versus Montgomery and the other semifinal will have number 1 seeded Highland Park against Wichita Falls Rider.
The finals are scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Texas A&M Tennis Center.
“The team would love to have lots of fan support and promises to put on a good show at one of the premier tennis facilities in the country,” Creel said.

“If last week’s matches against Georgetown and fifth-ranked Texas High are any indication, that would be a resounding ‘yes,’” said tennis coach Carol Creel. “We are currently ranked ranked third in the state and should go into the regional tournament as the number one seed.”
On Thursday the team took out Georgetown 15 matches to 4. Match of the day went to the girls team as a whole as they won all of their singles matches, only dropping 2 total games.
The team expected to be tested against Texas High but came out on top 14 matches to 2.
Last year Texas High brought home a state singles crown on the boys’ side but graduated quite a few seniors.
Lake Travis, on the other hand, while losing half of the state doubles champs in Conor O’Rourke and Austin Mayo (senior this year) and state semifinalist Justin Archer, reloaded with transfer senior Sam Laudon, junior Adam Dokos and the addition of freshman standout Nick Ruzicka.
Returning boys’ team members Jaxon Immler, Oliver Seifert, Tristan Wise and B.G. Slay round out one of the deepest boys’ line-ups in the state. These players along with Alex Gosch, Ryan Mitamura, Tyler Wilkie and Sam Thomas who have all won matches in district play.
On the girls’ side, Lake Travis returned all of the top six players in Ryan Brown, Courtney and Lauren Schulte, Hunyeh Hoghooghi, Bailey Meyer, and spring addition Brittany Brewster.
The team added top freshman Remi Immler and gets depth from the additional play of Megan Schoonmaker, Kristen Thorne, Lexie and Emily Wilson. The regional field will include the usual contenders in Boerne Champion and Alamo Heights along with district rival Vandegrift.
The team now heads to regionals in San Antonio. One team advances from the regional tournament to state. State is Nov. 4-5 in College Station.
Play begins Friday Oct. 28. Matches are at 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. both days. Visit the LT tennis website at www.lthstennis.org for more information.

“We performed at a level that shows lots of good things are yet to come,” Lake Travis head coach Carol Creel said.    “We won all seven doubles matches and went into singles play with only three matches needed to clinch the dual.”

The final score was 18-1.  Reagan plays Boerne Wednesday, which will be a good comparison of what the Cavaliers will face in regional play, with Boerne in the same region.

The Cavaliers took on Vandegrift after school Tuesday in their final district match in round robin play, but scores were not available at press time.

The match will set the seeding for the district tournament which begins next Tuesday and finishes Friday, Oct. 14.

Lake Travis is undefeated in district play and would clinch the No. 1 seed if it defeats Vandegrift.

Lake Travis beat Cedar Park 18-1 the day before topping Reagan.

On Sep. 13, Lake Travis topped Vista Ridge 17-2. Match of the Week went to Camille Muscariello and Emily Humphrey in doubles, BG Slay in singles and Emily Humphrey in singles.

On Sep. 20, Lake Travis handled Rouse 15-4. Match of the week went to Alex Gosch and Ryan Mitamura in doubles, Emily Humphrey and Lexie Wilson in doubles and Remi Immler in singles.

Mark your calendars for Lake Travis tennis’ big Saturday Night Lights fundraiser on Oct. 15.

On Sep. 12, the first set of state rankings came out, and the Cavaliers found themselves fourth in 4A behind Highland Park, Boerne Champion and McKinney North.

The spring individual state champion list dating back to 2007 is strong: Zach Nichols, Millie Nichols, Austin Mayo and Conor O’Rourke. And there have been over a dozen state qualifiers in the individual tournament during that span. But that regional title, it’s been a fickle beast. But why?

“That’s a great question, and it’s a tricky answer,” Mayo said. “I think we don’t support each other enough during the matches. We have the ability to win a team title, we just need the belief.”

Lake Travis head coach Carol Creel has always espoused that the team must be tremendously supportive of each other during the fall season to help achieve optimal results, to build a camaraderie that few can rival. But that’s easier said than done, as each season provides a new challenge with chemistry and experience. However, cheering alone doesn’t win titles, and it’s not the sole reason.

Sometimes, the Cavaliers are just facing exceptional competition.

“There are some really tough teams, dating back to when we had strong squads and they couldn’t get past teams like New Braunfels before they moved up to 5A,” Mayo said.

There’s no question that the region is not kind. Most of the time, the team that emerges from the region is the state favorite. The rise of Boerne Champion certainly hasn’t helped, either.

Not only that, but the dynamic in team tennis is tricky because in many ways, it’s so far beyond the mental nature of the sport.

“The biggest noticeable difference between the fall and spring seasons would probably have to be that the team is not relying on you to win, you need to win to go further to advance yourself in the spring,” Mayo said. “It doesn’t change how I approach it. I’m just more confident approaching it as an individual in the spring because you don’t have to win 10 matches, you just have to win one.”

It’s easy to feel like the task is daunting and far away, especially in Lake Travis’ region.

The Cavaliers are always one of the favorites, though, and it only takes one trip to overcome and change a program’s mindset and expectations. Mayo feels like this could be the year.

“I think is actually going to be the strongest team we’ll have since I’ve been on the high school team,” he said. “I think we’ll have a good chance at winning regionals and state.”

And perhaps all of those tough losses have galvanized a team poised to change perception.

“I think what’s exciting to me is that I know a lot of our seniors want to go to state and do well,” Mayo said. “We lost in regionals last year, and I think it hurt the juniors that are seniors now. And I’m excited to see them reach that goal and help lead them to that.”

Far from identical, Austin (blonde and tan from hours on the court outside) and Mackenzie (red hair and fair skin) Mayo have carved out their own paths in the sporting world, but have achieved markedly similar results in many ways.

Mackenzie won her first state championship last fall with the Lake Travis volleyball team, and is a libero committed to Baylor with a club national title now under her belt, as well, from this July.

Austin, meanwhile, notched his first state championship with doubles partner Conor O’Rourke in May at the University of Texas.

It’s been a busy year for both, but the successes and failures that led them to this point were different and in some ways unexpected.

You would think that two athletes with such a high level of success in their respective arenas would have been at each other’s throats throughout their childhood, but they’ll tell you that it was rarely the case.

“We were never really competitive with each other,” Mackenzie said. “We’ve always been there for each other, even though we weren’t always close. But now that we’re getting older, we’re like best buds. We’re each other’s support system.”

Well, there were moments, but they were rare.

“We helped each other out. But being siblings, we had fights over who was the better one,” Austin said. “Overall, we’ve been really supportive of each other and each other’s sports.”

But they each chose their sports for a reason. Mackenzie thrives off a team atmosphere while Austin prefers to be the lone wolf, holding his competitive fate in his own hands.

“I think my sister likes to be a leader of a team. She can rely on her teammates to support her and help her get through the matches,” Austin said. “I like to be the leader of myself and be in control of things. I don’t really feel comfortable relying on other people. I don’t want to be the cause of their downfall.”

That self reliance leads to Austin being harder on himself, and it’s for that reason that Mackenzie could never see them being competitive with their accomplishments. She shuddered at the idea of rubbing her state championship in his face last November.

“I couldn’t do that because, for one, he was about to start his season. And two, he always compares himself to me, and it’s awful because we don’t even play the sport. I play a team sport and I have all these teammates to help, and he doesn’t, and he’s too hard on himself. He’s really good, but he doesn’t think he is.”

He appreciates his sister’s support, though, even in his toughest moments.

“I’ve always noticed her improvement and success, and sometimes I think there’s no way I can compete with it,” he said. “She reminds me that I only have myself out there. She really helps me out there whenever I have a negative thought.”

But it’s also that mentality that keeps Austin believing he needs to improve.

“When I won the state championship, I think it was a bigger deal to her,” he laughed. “I didn’t think it was that big of a deal, really. I guess because I’m not really used to being on a team.”

Mackenzie was definitely more excited.

“It was crazy. When I was watching him, I knew I was going to be happy when we won, but when they finally got that last point, I seriously had tears in my eyes,” she said. “I was so excited. After I won, he called me and told me how happy he was for me. It was really great to be able to do that back when he won.”

While Austin is definitely the quieter of the two, he admitted his enthusiasm was at an all-time high when his sister won her first title.

“When she won it, I’d been to state but I hadn’t experience the win. So I didn’t really know what to expect,” he said. “I didn’t take it so much as she won state, but she was just really happy, and she’d worked really hard for that. When I saw her glowing with excitement, that was just a great feeling. I was just really happy for her.”

Though their approach, reactions and needs from their sports are different, it’s interesting that both had a taste of the state tournament stage before they found success.

Mackenzie played as a freshman defensive specialist for the 2008 Lake Travis team that lost in the state semifinals to Highland Park in five sets. Austin lost in the state semifinals of boys’ singles play as a sophomore in 2009. The lesson is probably that it’s good to get an early start. After all, it’s left them with a senior season that they both hope will include a few more championships.

“It’s awesome. I don’t even know what to say,” Mackenzie said. “It’s cool because it just doesn’t happen often. Hopefully we can both get another one this year. That would be sweet.”

While Mackenzie joins back up with her team for another run, Austin is looking forward to another shot at a singles title.

“It’s probably my goal. It’s a lot harder in singles because of the level of competition – you’re playing the best guys in the state. But it’s something I want,” he said. “I know my sister will win again. I have a lot of faith in her and her abilities.”

It’s a shared belief in each other, despite all the differences, that’s helped make them the Cavaliers’ most successful sibling duo heading into 2011.

Conor O’Rourke and Austin Mayo have both tasted defeat at the state tournament during their Lake Travis careers.

Tuesday, though, it was all worth it, as the duo won in straight sets 6-2, 6-4, to claim the 4A boys’ doubles crown over Montgomery’s Brad Hinkle and Hunter Ward, cementing the third Lake Travis individual tennis state championship since 2007.

“It’s unexplainable right now,” Mayo said. “We’ve been working at this a long time now, and we made it a goal at the beginning of the school year. So to finally reach it and accomplish it is just amazing. It’s an amazing feeling.”

“We finally did it,” O’Rourke said. “It’s been a really long journey, playing since we were 12 years old. We were really looking forward to this year, so to win the championship means a lot.”

After a first day in which they were forced to three sets in both the quarterfinals and semifinals, the duo came out firing in a first set rout.

“It was kind of good to go through that yesterday because we knew we had to start out strong today,” Mayo said.

They were probably the strong team in both matches on Monday, but weren’t hitting on all cylinders. It helped on Tuesday when it mattered most.

“Yesterday, we weren’t playing our best tennis, but we played smart and kept our   intensity up,” O’Rourke said.

So when they plowed through the first set on Tuesday, it set the stage for the rest of the match.

“I felt really good,” O’Rourke said. “I liked all the energy we were getting from our fans because it really took away the nervous edge.”

A large contingent of Cavalier faithful showed up to cheer on the doubles team, with many students painting the players’ names on their stomachs and chants filling breaks or lulls in action when the players needed a boost. The size of that crowd is growing every year at the state tournament for Lake Travis, and the success not only of the doubles team, but also of the four other players to reach the state tournament, shows just how popular school tennis is becoming in the Lake Travis area. Of the five state championship match appearances since 2007, the Cavaliers have come away with three titles. The previous two titles went to Zach Nichols in boys’ singles in 2007 and his sister Millie in girls’ singles in 2009.

Still, despite all the success, Lake Travis head coach Carol Creel said it’s always special when her players reach the finals.

“I think it’s always a big deal,” Creel said. “Even the best player is going to get nerves when there are people chanting for your school and fans have painted your name on their stomachs. You’ve got to stay focused and play well.”

O’Rourke and Mayo did that, even when the second set started to slip away from them for a few games. Down 5-2, Montgomery won two straight games to push the Cavaliers. It was the most dicey stretch of an otherwise dominant performance.

“We knew we needed to stay focused and keep our energy up,” Mayo said. “We were up in the match overall, so it was good to remember that.”

“We weren’t really doing anything wrong, they were just playing good tennis,” O’Rourke said. “So we just kept our emotions in check and kept our energy going, betting they couldn’t keep stringing it together and it worked out.”

In the next game, match point was reached three times during a back-and-forth tiebreaker. But in the end, with the advantage, the Cavaliers watched as a returned volley was missed and sent wide off of the court, and then simultaneously turned toward each other and dropped their rackets in celebration.

For O’Rourke, a senior, it’s the end of a career as a leader and top performer at Lake Travis. Mayo, a junior, gets one more crack at state next year.

“I’ve been playing tennis since I was four,” O’Rourke said. “To end it on something like this is just such a big deal to me. Especially with Mayo, who’s been a friend for a long time. I’ve been looking forward to this moment, and to actually do it is just awesome.”

Their coach couldn’t have asked for a more perfect ending for the duo.

“I’m really proud of them,” Creel said. “I know Austin really loves playing singles, and it was a stretch for him to get into the doubles this year. But I think it’s been a great thing for him, and he and Conor have been great friends for years. It’s going to do him a lot of good in the long run as far as his college prospects go, and it’s obviously great to send Conor off like this as a senior.”

It was also a nice cap to a special two days for Lake Travis tennis, which saw the most players ever in program history compete in the tournament with six.

“We’ve worked really hard, and the better your team gets, the better everyone else gets because they have good people to practice against,” Creel said. “They realize how fun high school tennis can be and especially when they get to a stage like this at state.”

Justin Archer (boys’ singles), Brittany Brewster (girls’ singles) and Jaxon Immler and Ryan Brown (mixed doubles) all reached the state semifinals before being knocked out on Monday night. But even that can be counted as a victory for a program that continues to grow. Creel said the development of the program is a credit to everyone involved.

“I think obviously we’ve had some strong move-ins, but I think the biggest change this year is in our doubles,” she said. “And I credit that to having a full time assistant in Coach [Tim] Bourke for the first time. We get more time to focus on each of our players just because it’s not just me running around, trying to be on eight courts at once at each meet. We had all the kids working hard in and out of the classroom, and we had a ton of support from the community, and we really appreciate that.”

O’Rourke and Mayo paid everyone back by giving them one more reason to celebrate the best spring season in Lake Travis history.

The Cavaliers will be sending a school record six players to the state meet on May 9-10 at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center at the University of Texas to compete for individual titles.

“Every one of our players came up with their best tennis and we ended the day with four out of five draws, dominated by Lake Travis and the fifth draw in third place,” Lake Travis head coach Carol Creel said.

Hunyeh Hoghooghi and Courtney Schulte had a tough semifinal loss in girls’ doubles to set up a rematch of the district finals with Vandegrift in the third place match. The Lake Travis duo played flawlessly and took out the Vipers 6-2, 6-2.

Brittany Brewster had a repeat of the district final and defeated Leanne Cantalupo from Dripping Springs in the final 6-2, 6-0; reaffirming that she was the dominant girls’ singles player in Region IV.

Ryan Brown and Jaxon Immler faced a tough team from Lehman in the semifinals of mixed doubles, according to Creel, and came through in three sets. Then they took out the Alamo Heights team of Hammer and Wigodsky 6-3, 6-2 in the finals.

“They definitely lived up to their No. 1 seeding,” Creel said.

Justin Archer had his best win over Russell Naumann of Alamo Heights in the semifinals (they have played three times now this spring), winning 6-0, 6-1, and then outlasted Adolfo Gonzalez of Lehman 6-3 in the third set of the final.

“Fitness and pickle juice get an assist in that well-played match,” Creel said.

Lastly, the match that everyone was waiting for did not disappoint.

The boys’ doubles team of Austin Mayo and Conor O’Rourke played a tough match in the semifinals and pulled out a win against Gregory-Portland, setting up the showdown with last year’s state champs from Boerne in the finals.

“I can tell you without hesitation that they played their best doubles of the year,” Creel said.

With that, they took out Fellows and Gorham 6-3, 6-4, to win the regional tournament.

“This marks the most successful regional finish for Lake Travis in spring tennis,” Creel said. “We won four out of five divisions, advanced six players to the state tournament along with our girls’ doubles as alternates – the most ever, advanced more players than any other team in the region by far and came up with our best tennis when it really counted,” Creel said.

Like clockwork, the Lake Travis tennis team decimated the opposition in last week’s district tournament, sending eight qualifiers to the Region IV tournament at Blossom Tennis Center in San Antonio on April 19-20.

“Seeing that every finals had at least one Lake Travis team – it makes me really proud to be a part of this,” Lake Travis junior Austin Mayo said. “I think we have a good chance of a lot of people going to state this year, and definitely doing well at regionals.”

In boys’ singles, Justin Archer took first, qualifying for regionals, while Tristan Wise took third.

In girls’ singles, Brittany Brewster took first, qualifying for regionals, while Bailey Meyer finished as a quarterfinalist.

In boys’ doubles, Mayo and partner Conor O’Rourke battled through three sets to take the district title and qualify for state.

“We struggled in the middle of the match, but our connection was really strong and we had a lot of energy,” Mayo said. “We finally got that feeling back, got focused and used that energy.”

Third place in boys’ doubles went to Daniel Howell and Oliver Seifert.

In girls’ doubles, Courtney Schulte and Hunyeh Hoghooghi qualified for regionals with a second place finish overall.

Fourth place went to Smrithi Hariharan and Emily Wilson.

In mixed doubles, the duo of Ryan Brown and Jaxon Immler took first place, qualifying for regionals while BG Slay and Megan Schoonmaker took fourth overall.

Now the team’s attention turns to qualifying for state, a rare opportunity that Mayo said is like nothing else. He should know, having reached the semifinals last year in boys’ singles, while his partner O’Rourke reached in doubles.

“We’ve been to state before, we know how it feels and we want to get that feeling again,” Mayo said. “The atmosphere is just amazing. Everyone’s rooting for you, there’s some college coaches, and yeah, there’s some pressure, but the fact that you’re there with eight other people [in each event] that made it to the state tournament – it’s a great feeling. I want every one of my teammates to be a part of that.”

Overall, Lake Travis teams finished first on both the boys’ and girls’ side, with Vandegrift in both second place slots and the Dripping Springs girls and Vista Ridge boys in third.

The Cavaliers – the top seed heading into the Region IV tournament – topped Schertz Clemens, Kerrville Tivy and Flour Bluff before falling 10-8 to Boerne Champion in the region championship.

“What an incredible weekend of tennis by the team,” Creel said in a message Monday. “The day ended with Boerne going to the state meet after a 10-8 finish but I could not have been prouder of any other team than the Cavaliers. We came into the regional tournament ranked No. 2 in the state and left the regional tournament No. 1 in the hearts of everyone who saw us compete.”

Lake Travis cruised in the first three matches, starting with Clemens.

Boys’ doubles wins went to James Seward and Conor O’Rourke and Austin Mayo and Wayne McDonald.

Girls’ doubles wins went to Lauren Schulte and Megan Schoonmaker, Hunyeh Hoghooghi and Courtney Schulte and Lexie Wilson and Carley Wilson.

The mixed doubles win went to TJ Minter and Bailey Meyer.

Boys’ singles wins went to Justin Archer, Tristan Wise and Carrick Kampe.

The only girls’ singles win needed was Kristen Murphy’s.

“TJ Minter and Bailey Meyer pulled out a three-set victory in mixed doubles,” Creel said. “Tristan Wise clinched the 10-1 match with his singles victory.”

Top match honors went to Wise and the duo of Minter and Meyer.

Later Friday afternoon, the Cavaliers took on Kerrville Tivy.

Boys’ doubles wins went to O’Rourke and Archer, Jaxon Immler and Mayo and Wise and BG Slay.

The lone girls’ doubles win went to Courtney Schulte and Hoghooghi.

The mixed doubles win went to Oliver Seifert and Smrithi Hariharan.

Boys’ singles wins went to Archer, O’Rourke and Seifert.

Girls’ singles wins went to Courtney Schulte and Meyer.

“Lauren Schulte took match of the afternoon with her never-say-die match in which she came back from 5-2 and 5-0 down in each set,” Creel said.

Schulte was leading her match 7-6, 6-5, when the Cavaliers clinched the team match.

Top match honors went to Seifert and Schulte as the Cavaliers won 10-3.

Lake Travis opened Saturday with Corpus Christi Flour Bluff, and kept cruising in another 10-3 win.

Boys’ singles wins went to Archer, Mayo and Slay.

The girls’ doubles win went to Courtney Schulte and Hoghooghi.

Boys’ singles wins went to O’Rourke, Mayo, Wise and Immler.

Girls’ singles wins went to Courtney Schulte and Hoghooghi.

Top match honors went to Schulte and Hoghooghi and Schulte again in singles.

Meanwhile, the match between Boerne Champion and Alamo Heights ran longer than expected thanks to a narrow 10-9 win by the Chargers.

“That’s when the drama began,” Creel said. “Conor O’Rourke and Justin Archer started it off on the show court against last year’s state doubles champions and had a tough 6-4, 6-4 loss in a hard-fought, very exciting match. Austin Mayo and Jaxon Immler battled on line two, as did Tristan Wise and BG Slay at line three doubles. Both of those teams went three sets and pulled out their matches.”

Despite a battle by Hoghooghi and Courtney Schulte in girls’ doubles, Boerne had the edge with a sweep of all three matches in girls’ doubles.

“Oliver Seifert and Smrithi Hariharan posted an impressive win in mixed doubles after a tiebreaker in the first set, and they ran away with the second set 6-0,” Creel said.

That gave Boerne a 4-3 lead heading into singles, making it an uphill climb, but the team still battled.

“Enter Ryan Brown,” Creel said of her No. 1 girl. “Ryan was in and out of the hospital last week with severe allergic reactions and was not expected to play at all over the weekend, as the doctors had not yet figured out what had been causing her illness. She insisted on coming for the last match and at least starting her singles match to give the team a better chance on the lower lines.”

And she delivered in a big way, winning 6-2, 6-3.

“She ran off the first set quickly and then wouldn’t come off the court until she had a win for her team,” Creel said. “On her last changeover, it was clear that she could only go one more game, which she pulled out.”

Creel said she and assistant Tim Bourke were agonizing on the sidelines as the drama unfolded and Brown kept battling.

“She went immediately to the doctor to make sure she was able to be taken care of if things progressed like they had a couple of times last week,” Creel said. “I could say we were all proud of Ryan but it was better said by Justin Archer on the way home when he said ‘I am in awe of Ryan Brown.’”

Boys’ singles wins went to O’Rourke, Mayo, Wise and Immler.

“The team kept fighting after Ryan’s match and every player left everything on the court,” Creel, the 2009 4A Coach of the Year and 2010 Sectional Coach of Year, said. “Courtney was in the battle of her life, determined to hit a thousand balls per point if that was what it took and finished the match cramping from her efforts.”

Despite the effort by all Lake Travis players, Boerne managed to hold them off in the end, winning a third straight Region IV title.

Still, it was one of the best finishes in Lake Travis team tennis history.

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There weren’t any state championships brought home this year from the World of Tennis, but there was a glimpse of what the team and players should be capable of over at least the next two years.

Leading the way was Austin Mayo, who reached the state semifinals in boys’ singles before falling 6-1, 6-1 to Rockwall Heath’s Borhnstedt. Mayo reached the semis after walloping Denton’s Hee Won Kim 6-1, 6-3.

“He’s come the furthest of any sophomore in the history of the program at Lake Travis,” Lake Travis head coach Carol Creel said. “He was disappointed and felt like he could have played better, but I was very proud of how he played.”

Meanwhile, Claire Cahill and Conor O’Rourke were upended in the quarterfinals, albeit a bit unexpectedly.

“I think the team that they played – we certainly felt they’d be a strong team – but they had a special formation that really allowed their guy to hit to his strengths,” Creel said. “I’m not sure if they were nervous, but they just didn’t play as well as they have lately. It was just kind of a windy, bad match and maybe a bit of jitters.”

Still, she’s thankful for the impact both players have had on the season.
“Conor was a great addition,” Creel said. “He fired everybody up and he and Claire were the backbone of the team. It will be tough to see her leave for college.”

The duo that O’Rourke and Cahill lost to ended up playing for the state championship and losing, while Borhnstedt did the same in boys’ singles.
The finishes weren’t what any of the Cavaliers were hoping for, but the run to the state championships by the entire team give Creel reason to believe in the future of the program.

“Your maximum expectations, realistically, would have been Ryan Brown making it if she hadn’t been injured, and our boys’ doubles team of Jaxon Immler and Carlos Arana making it – they took one of the teams that made it to three sets in the regional. They were really close,” Creel said. “So that would have been the ultimate, for sure, but with another fall season, we’re going to be really strong.”