The Falcon tennis squad stayed busy last week, with the girls playing in two regular matches before they were joined by the boys at the weekend Miami tournament.

The girls split their earlier matches, besting Northwest Christian before falling to Scottsdale Christian.

At the tournament, Tim Schlum took first in individual play for the boys while the pairing of Jenny Fisher and Jena Serrano took second for the girls in doubles. The local ladies also managed a second place overall finish at the event.

Play continues this week with two more matches for both the boys and girls.

The ladies were on the road playing Scottsdale Preparatory Academy Tuesday afternoon and will host Sedona Red Rock High School tomorrow, April 16, beginning at 3:30 p.m.

The boys, on the other hand, hosted Scottsdale Prep yesterday and will visit Sedona Red Rock Friday, April 17, beginning at 3:30 p.m.

Both teams will end the regular season next Tuesday, April 21, with the boys hosting Page High School and the girls visiting the same opponent. Both matches will begin at 3:30 p.m.

Northwest

The girls played host to Northwest Christian last Monday, April 6, going on to win 9-0.

Winning matches in singles play were Jenny Fisher, Jena Serrano, Taylor James, Meagan Coveney, Kate Domin and Lauren Nazarro.

The local ladies were undefeated in doubles play, too, with the pairings of Fisher/Serrano, Rachel Strayer/Courtney Dunham and Bianca Giorgi/Sarah Domin winning their matches.

Winning six straight matches in singles play, coach Jean Serrano said she was happy for the chance to try out some new formations in the doubles competitions.

Scottsdale

A day later and the girls were on the road to take on Scottsdale Christian, who Serrano called the Falcons’ “friendliest rivals.”

“This was a match to watch, as it went on forever,” she said.

“All of the matches went at least one and a half hours. Lauren Nazarro’s went two hours and Taylor James’ went two and a half. It was an extremely close match, and two tie-breakers made the difference.”

In singles play, Jenny Fisher and Taylor James both lost their competitions in a tie-breaker.

Also suffering defeat were Jena Serrano, Meagan Coveney and Lauren Nazarro.

Kate Domin earned the team’s sole win in singles play.

The doubles teams fared a bit better. Fisher/Serrano and Nazarro/Domin earned wins, with James/Coveney suffering a defeat.

Tournament

The Falcon bus left town at 6 a.m. to make it to Miami in time for the tournament.

Taylor James and Meagan Coveney were up first, taking on Coolidge. It was a tough loss at 10-5 to the team that went on to take second place overall in the tournament.

In doubles play for the boys, David Strayer and Kolton Coultrap suffered a similar loss, falling to Coolidge by a score of 10-2. Reid Sanchez and Ethan Green then took on another Coolidge team and won 10-4 before falling to Florence 10-3.

Kate Domin played singles for the girls, besting her Coolidge opponent 10-0.

“Her second round was tougher and she suffered a defeat from Florence, 10-5,” Serrano said.

Lauren Nazarro also started out well, besting her first opponent from Thatcher 10-5. Her next match was against a known “tennis family” from Safford.

“Lauren played the best tennis match I have ever seen her play,” Serrano said.

“She was making phenomenal plays, even though she wasn’t feeling good.”

Nazarro eventually lost a close one, 10-7.

“Joshua Quan did a wonderful job of frustrating his opponent from Thatcher,” Serrano continued.

“He has excellent energy and was pushing the player constantly to deuce before eventually losing the game. He eventually took a loss, 10-1.”

Tim Schlum had little trouble in singles play early on, breezing past an opponent from Coolidge 10-0. The same thing happened against opponent two from Safford, winning 10-0.

After winning match three 6-2, 6-1, Schlum went on to earn the tournament championship against an opponent from Miami, 6-2, 6-1.

Finally, in doubles play, the pairing of Jenny Fisher and Jena Serrano managed to earn a title of their own.

The duo earned a bye in the first match and then bested Safford, 10-2.

In their next match, the team lost 6-3 before winning 6-1. It was then announced that they’d have to play a full third set to determine the winner, and Fisher/Serrano managed to muscle out a tough 6-3 victory.

After just a 30-minute break, Fisher and Serrano headed into the finals against Coolidge, eventually winning another tough match, 6-2, 6-0, to earn first place overall.

In the end, the girls claimed second place as a team.

“Coach [Larry] Schmit and I were extremely proud of the way our teams handled themselves in what became an adverse situation because of irate parents,” Serrano said.

“Our players weren’t afraid to take control of their courts during their matches and they showed politely and clearly that they knew the rules of the game.”