Long day, short night for BHS tennis team; VHS falls in first round

ALBUQUERQUE — It was a State Tennis Championship to remember for the Belen girls, on and off the court.

In the class 1-4A team competition last Friday, the Eagles defeated Los Alamos 5-4 to open the tournament at Sierra Vista on Albuquerque’s west side.

Before BHS could play Roswell Goddard, lightning moved the match to the Jerry Cline Tennis Complex. There, starting at 8:30 p.m., Belen won 5-4 to reach the semifinals.

Belen coach Chrissy Cordova said the Eagles didn’t arrive back home until 1:30 a.m. Saturday. The team returned to Albuquerque for a 9 a.m. match against Albuquerque Academy, which the Chargers won 6-0 enroute to the championship.

For the boys, Valencia fell 9-0 to Lovington in the first round, while BHS defeated Silver 7-2 before losing to Espanola Valley 5-3.

“It’s been fun, I learned a lot over the years,” said Luke Austin, Belen senior, who also played in the singles tournament. “It’s been a great journey for me.”

Highlights from the individual championship included first-round victories for Belen’s doubles teams of Ava Fragua and Gabby Jaramillo and Dylan Jaramillo and Cole Rodriguez.

Other locals who took part in doubles were Belen’s Ella Wilson and Ashtyn Carillo-Lovato, as well as Los Lunas pairs Sienna Cordova and Preslee Lamb and Alex Covarrubia and Aron Sanders.

Daniel Altobello played singles for Valencia High School.