PHS tennis squads have one senior

PORTALES — Portales High will field relatively young tennis squads this season. In fact, the Rams and Lady Rams have only one senior between them.

The PHS boys, though, return a bit more experience heading into the season-opening Lea County Invitational today and Saturday at Lovington, including the one senior, Zach Laurenz.

“We definitely have hope for this season,” said fourth-year Rams coach Logan Brown, a 2006 PHS grad. “I’ve definitely seen some progress.”

PHS squads face challenging matches in District 4/1-4A, including Mesilla Valley, New Mexico Military and Hope Christian on the boys side and Hope and defending 1-4A state champion Mesilla Valley for the girls.

“We have the largest district (in the class),” Brown said. “We also have the most spread-out district.”

His top two players are probably Laurenz and junior Javier Gutierrez. Laurenz, though, may start the season a little slowly as he’s still feeling the effects of a knee injury sustained in football.

“Our boys are definitely going to have a challenging time,” Brown said of the district. “But it’s been cool seeing (their) growth since last year.”

Meantime, the Lady Rams, who reached the state quarterfinals last year, have two juniors on the squad in Kelly Fraze and Sarah Blaeser, while the rest are from the eighth grade through sophomore classes.

Sophomore Danielle Ruiz is the team’s most experienced player, entering her third year, while freshmen Kinsey Bilberry and Timberlyn Neece both played as eighth-graders.

The Lady Rams reached the state quarterfinals as a team last year. They also qualified one singles player and one doubles team.

“It’ll be a tough battle in our district,” fifth-year coach Anne-Marie Bucksath said. “Hopefully, it’ll get us ready for state.

“We’re rebuilding, but we’re showing progress. I just want to see us getting stronger. Our goal is to qualify for the state tournament.”

After this weekend’s event, PHS squads don’t return to action until returning to Lovington for dual matches on March 16.

PHS SCHEDULE

February

24-25 — Lea County Open at Lovington.

March

16 — at Lovington, 3 p.m.; 21 — at Clovis, 3 p.m.; 24-25 — Northern New Mexico Invite at Santa Fe; 28 — Artesia, 3 p.m.; 31 — NMMI tournament (part 1, Mesilla Valley, Ruidoso, Silver) at Roswell-x.

April

1 — NMMI tournament (part 1, Mesilla Valley, Ruidoso, Silver) at Roswell-x; 4 — Roswell Goddard, 3 p.m.; 6-7 — NMMI tournament (part 2, New Mexico Military, Hope Christian, Moriarty, New Mexico Military) at Roswell-x; 11 — Ruidoso, 3 p.m.; 13 — Raton, 3 p.m.; 18 — at New Mexico Military, 3 p.m.; 28-29 — District 4/1-4A tournament at Roswell (NMMI).

x-Denotes District 4/1-4A matches.