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(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Kline Krupp makes a two-handed swing on a ball Wednesday, Aug. 6, against Stephenville. Krupp was one of four Lady Blues who picked up a singles victory. -
(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Brodey Mills makes contact with a ball Wednesday, Aug. 6, against Stephenville. Mills alongside Olivia Buckley picked up an 8-0 mixed doubles match win on the day. -
(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Jordan Miranda takes an overhead swing in his singles match Wednesday, Aug. 6, against Stephenville. Miranda was one of five Steers singles competitors to pick up wins on the day. -
(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Raife Bishop swings at ball Saturday, Aug. 2, against Krum. Bishop had his best performance of the season so far against Stephenville picking up an 8-1 in his singles match. -
(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Olivia Buckley throws a ball up in the air for a serve Wednesday, Aug. 6. Buckley was one half of a dominant mixed doubles team that picked up an 8-0 match win on the day. -
(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Tyler Bryan prepares to return a serve Wednesday, Aug. 6, against Stephenville. Bryan picked up an 8-5 singles win to give Graham the win on the day.
After a mixed opening weekend where Graham tennis went 1-1 against Mineral Wells and Krum, the Steers and Lady Blues bounced back in a big way picking up wins against Decatur and Stephenville.
For head coach Matt Birdwell, he particularly highlighted the meet against Decatur as an important one early in the season, being how they performed last year.
The team lost to Decatur narrowly on the road last season 10-9, so Graham was looking for a bounce back performance this go around.
That’s exactly what the Steers and Lady Blues accomplished with a 13-6 victory at home Monday, Aug. 4.
For the doubles teams, they were nothing short of dominant. On the girls side, the team of Jade Dospapas and Kline Krupp only allowed one set point in an 8-1 match win. Things took a bit more work for the team of Stacy Gonzalez and Hope Jones, but they were able to pull out a solid win of their own 8-3.
The boys won all three of their doubles matchups, including a thriller from Tyler Bryan and Chris Reyes which saw the team pull out a narrow 9-8 victory in a tie breaker.
Jones for the Lady Blues, and Reyes for the Steers, picked up the most dominant match wins in the singles section of the meet winning 8-1 and 8-2 respectively.
Overall, Birdwell thought there were several improvements from the team that go around in comparison to their loss against Krum, including greater energy and better communication calling out scores.
“We didn’t have any problems with that today (calling out scores),” Birdwell said. “Last time I thought we got out cheered by Krum. We outcheered Decatur today, it was just a really good day all the way around.”
Graham’s next meet came Wednesday, Aug. 6, right back at home against Stephenville. The Steers and Lady Blues pulled out a 12-7 win extending their record on the season to 3-1.
One of the biggest standouts from this contest was the mixed doubles tandem of Brodey Mills and Olivia Buckley. The pair has had an up and down start finding their rhythm early this season coming into their Stephenville showdown 1-2.
Needing a statement win, the tandem responded in a big way not allowing a single set point to Stephenville in a shutout 8-0 win. The pairing looked strong today and Birdwell said their flow and chemistry on the court will only continue to flourish as they get more playing time.
“There’s some things they need to work on and they need more playing time together, but they’re coming together alright,” Birdwell said.
The singles team also did their part in a big way to pick up the eventual win on the day. Dospapas, Gonzalez, Krupp and Manjot Humpal all picked up key victories for the Lady Blues varsity.
On the Steers side, Raife Bishop had his strongest performance of the season so far with an 8-1 win in his match alongside victories from Jordan Miranda, Brooklyn Tarsoaga, Keigan Garland, and the young man who picked up the match win that won the day in Tyler Bryan beating his Stephenville opponent 8-5.
After facing Peaster at home Friday, Aug. 8, the team picks things up again at 9 a.m. Monday, Aug. 11, against Azle right back home in Graham.
