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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Friday, August 10, 2001
Eagles netters get new coach for fall season
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
The Pecos Eagles' tennis team will have to be road warriors this season,
at least when the District 2-4A portion of their fall schedule comes
around.
The Eagles will have a veteran team for the first time in a while and
will have a new coach, Mike Ortiz, who was the Pecos junior high tennis coach
in the mid-1990s before returning this summer to replace Bernadette Ornelas
as varsity coach.
The team began practicing on Tuesday, with their season opener tentatively
scheduled for Aug. 24-25 at Fort Stockton. "Right now some of my kids are
still working. We're having two practices a day and they're coming to at
least one. But the kids are working real hard and I'm real excited."
Pecos won the district title two years ago, while advancing to regionals
each of the past two seasons as runners-up in district to Clint. "Right now
it looks like it will be either us or Clint. We didn't lose that many so
we should be as strong or stronger than we were a year ago," Ortiz said.
"The top six are back for the boys and the girls I think we lost only
one (senior Rebecca Wein), and she went to volleyball," Ortiz said. Wein
was the Eagles' No. 1 seed during the fall season last year, while the No.
2 seed, sophomore Natalia Ornelas, is at tennis camp in Florida this week.
The boys' side will be where the Eagles will be looking for the most improvement,
after the girls picked up the bulk of the singles and doubles wins for Pecos
the past couple of seasons. Pecos returns No. 1 seed Trent Graham, who also
was part of the No. 1 doubles team with Jay Dannelley during fall play last
season. Orlando Mendoza and Stephen Lamb were the No. 2 seed in doubles as
well as being the No. 3 and 4 seeds in singles play.
"Right now we have about 20 players, and I'm expecting about four or five
more," Ortiz said.
The district tournament has been at San Elizario the past three seasons.
San Eli doesn't have a team, but the trip has only been a six mile drive
for Clint and Fabens and a 180-mile trip for Pecos. This year, the Eagles
won't have to make that trip for the 2-4A tourney, but Ortiz said, they probably
won't be playing in Pecos, either.
"District was supposed to have been here, but right now we're looking
at probably having it at Monahans, because our courts won't be ready," he
said. The school district has tentatively approved a $168,000 repair job
for the Pecos High School tennis courts, which have large cracks down the
middle and sides of the courts due to problems with the court's foundation.
An effort to re-patch the tennis courts back in 1994 lasted only five months
before the cracks reappeared.
Because the district tournament is supposed to be in Pecos, the Eagles'
three pre-tournament matches, against Fabens, Clint and El Paso Mountain
View, will all be on the road this season. District play is scheduled to
start on Sept. 29 in Fabens, with the 2-4A tournament set for Oct. 19-20.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
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Copyright 2000 by Pecos Enterprise
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