Like death and taxes, one thing for certain is that the Harlingen South tennis team will be successful each season.
So it should come as little surprise that the Hawks are in the UIL Region IV-6A team tennis semifinals and take on Austin Vandergrift at 10 a.m. today at the Northside Tennis Center in San Antonio.
According to head coach Noe Stillman, the Hawks have won 10 consecutive district titles and have been ranked in the state top 25 for the past 10 years, including one season when the squad was No. 9.
“This year our boys squad is 133-2 on the season and ranked 19th in the state,” said Stillman. “They are solid all around and have really overachieved all season, now we’ll see how they fare against a very good Vandergrift team.”
The boys team is led by junior Adrian Mungia and senior Jorge Garcia. And while the boys have done particularly well this season, the girls team is no slouch and is led by junior Valeria Montero and undefeated sophomore Kara LeMarr.
The Hawks’ path to the regional semis began a week ago with a bi-district rout against PSJA High. The team followed that up with a second-round beating of Laredo United then a regional quarterfinal win over Eagle Pass earlier this week in Laredo.
Meanwhile, Vandergrift opened with a first-round victory over San Antonio Churchill, an area-round win against San Antonio Clark then a regional quarters defeat of Austin Westlake.
The winner between South and Vandergrift will take on either Austin Lake Travis or Laredo Alexander in the regional finals on Friday with a trip to the state tournament in College Station on the line.
