The Falcons tennis squad continues its trek through the post-season with the local ladies continuing on to the next round of team competition and David Rothweil still going strong in singles following a match delay due to weather.

The girls tennis squad plays today, May 4, against Seton Catholic, with Rothweil finishing up his run yesterday afternoon. Results from those matches will run in next week’s edition of The Times.

Boys

The boys tennis squad entered state squaring off against Scottsdale Prep. As head coach David Phillips said, this was a tough draw for the Falcons, as their opponents were the number one seeded team in the tournament.

Rothweil had a tense match in singles, earning his first loss on the season after besting his opponent in the first set. Scottsdale Prep’s Adaway managed to dig deep in the following two sets, however, to earn the victory.

Phillips said that Ethan Green put up a spirited fight in his match, while David Strayer, Kolton Coultrap and Josh Quan were simply overpowered in their matches.

“Michael Suchanek produced his best performance of the season as he comfortably eased past his opponent in a one-sided match, 6-1, 6-0,” Phillips said. “A freshman this year, Michael is one to watch for the future.

“Although the team lost, they put in their best performance of the year against a very good side. With no seniors graduating from the team this year, the boys team has a rosy future.”

Girls

The local ladies managed to earn a victory in their state showdown against the Thatcher Eales.

Phillips said the Falcons’ number one, Jena Serrano, found a comfortable victory, as did teammate Courtney Dunham. With narrow losses from Dagny Paulsen and Laura Anderson, the Falcons found themselves tied 2-2.

Taylor James edged the Falcons ahead, however, fighting to stay alive in a close match of her own.

“Meanwhile, on court two, Meagan Coveney’s match was entering its second hour,” explained Phillips. “What followed were five of the closest games with the longest rallies I have ever seen on a tennis court, with three of the games each passing seven deuces.”

In the end, Coveney found the resolve to finish up and earn the win, putting the Falcons ahead 4-2.

While Laura Anderson and Julia Burgess were unable to pull in that final needed win to gain an overall victory, Courtney Dunham and Taylor James battled through a close match to put the Falcons ahead and out of reach of their opponents.

Serrano and Coveney decided to make the difference a bit more comfortable, however, earning an extra win to give the Falcons some extra breathing room.

Individuals

The sole Falcon to continue through the individual portion of state, David Rothweil had a busy week.

After battling his way through the quarterfinals against Brian Tuncap of Camelback, Rothweil entered the semifinals against Kesin Dolwani of Arizona College Prep, last year’s state champion after ousting Fountain Hills’ own Tim Schlum in the finals.

Phillips said Rothweil had no trouble finding his rhythm, however, and managed to blast past Dolwani with minimal resistance.

Into the finals and Rothweil found himself taking on Gabriel Stadelmann of Florence for the 2016 title. Unfortunately, the weather did not want to cooperate and, partway through their match, it was decided to put things on hold until this past Tuesday, May 3. That should have the added bonus of giving both players some recovery time before duking it out for the state championship.