The San Saba Tennis Team took five girls and two boys to the regional 1-AA Tennis Tournament in Abilene on April 23-24. In Girls Singles Tayler Hibler came in second place and this qualifies her for the State Tournament on May 5-6. In the round of 16 Tayler defeated Mary Nell Subia from Reagon County 6-3, 6-0. In the quarterfinals Tayler defeated Jance Denman from Dimmitt 6-2, 6-1. In the semifinals Hibler lost a tough match to Brittany Estes of Mason 6-1, 6-1. In the third place match Tayler defeated the number 1 seeded player Julia Henderson from Ozona 6-1,6-3. This enabled Tayler to have a playback match for second place against rival Mallory Briggs of Jim Ned. Briggs had lost in the finals to Brittany Estes 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Tayler had defeated Mallory in the district finals 6-0, 6-3. Mallory and Tayler both played outstanding tennis as Tayler took the first set 6-1, Mallory came back to tie the match up by winning the second set 6-3. Tayler came back in the third set and won in an exciting set 6-3. The win qualifies the sophomore, Tayler Hibler for the state tournament which will be held at the Pennick-Allison courts on the University of Texas campus on May 5-6. We hope everyone can come out and cheer for Tayler, her first match will be on May 5 at 10:15 a.m.

In Girls Doubles the duo of Hannah Crosby and Sophia Flores came within one win of going to state as they came in third place. DeLana Cisneroz and Kara Davis lost in the quarterfinals to the second place winner. The Mason girls doubles teams were the downfall for San Saba as they both defeated the San Saba Teams. In the round of 16 Crosby and Flores defeated Moreno and Salazar of Stanton 6-2, 6-0. Cisneroz and Davis defeated Martinez and Wells of Hawley 6-2, 6-1. In the quarterfinals Crosby and Flores defeated Evans and Ramirez of Reagon County 6-4, 6-0. Cisneroz and Davis lost to eventual second place team of Price and Wooten of Mason 6-1,6-4. In the semifinals Crosby and Flores lost to the eventual regional champions Baxter and Lange from Mason 6-2, 6-3. Crosby and Flores came back in the third place match and defeated Chambers and Schneider of Spearman 6-1, 6-3. This qualified Crosby and Flores for a playback match for second place against Price and Wooten from Mason. Crosby and Flores played well but lost a tough match to the Mason duo 6-1, 6-3.

In the Boys Doubles Justin Barker and Chase Key almost pulled off an upset in the first round. They played an exciting match that lasted two hours against the fourth seeded team of Wood and Wood from Muleshoe. Barker and Key won the first set 6-4, in the second set it came down to a tie-breaker and Muleshoe won it 9 – 7 to win the second set 7-6. The third set was a battle between both teams as they went back and forth and Muleshoe finally won 7 to 5.

All of these players played extremely well and represented San Saba very well at regionals. We hope everyone can come out and support Tayler Hibler in her quest to win the state championship. The top 3 players from last year at state will not be there this year and it looks like all eight players will be fairly even. It will come down to whoever can put three good matches in a row.