Los Alamos Varsity Tennis Teams Shine In State Tournament

Submitted by Carol A. Clark
on February 28, 2024
- 10:37 am

The team poses with coach Gibson and coach Khazratkulov. Photo credit Hari Viswanathan

Axel Niklasson serves against the Alamogordo pair of Ryan Amberson and Jaden Navaerez as his partner Andres Iturregui is ready at the net. The Toppers won the matchup 6-3 6-3. Photo by Hari Viswanathan

By Gowri Srinivasan
Los Alamos

The Los Alamos High School Hilltopper Varsity tennis teams had a strong showing in a two-day tournament held Feb. 23-24 at Española and Santa Fe, with 8 teams from around the state participating.

The boys won first place, sweeping the Alamogordo Tigers 5-0 in the finals and the girls placed fourth, falling to Alamogordo 1-5.

The format was a round robin with Española, Goddard and Hope Christian in the Toppers’ bracket. Alamogordo, Belen, New Mexico Military Institute (NMMI) and Santa Fe high schools formed the second bracket. The winner of each bracket faced off for the top honors and second place finishers battled for the third place. Each team competition was a best of 9, with 6 singles and 3 doubles matches.

The Lady Toppers had a tough first matchup against the Española team, where they lost 4-5 in a close but hard-fought battle. They reversed their fortunes quickly in the next matchup against Goddard, and pulled to a 2-0 lead before play was suspended Friday due to lack of light. The Los Alamos girls took care of business in an efficient manner Saturday morning when play was resumed, beating Goddard 5-4 and Hope Christian comfortably 5-0, earning their spot in the third-fourth place match.

The boys went up against the Española team in their first match of the round robin series, and quickly got up to a 4-2 lead after the singles matches. However the next two doubles matches went the way of the Sundevils and the series was tied at 4-4. The deciding doubles matchup, the “Thrilla in Española” featured sophomore Cam McDonald and freshman Jaden Kim facing off against Chris Gaytan and Joaquin Salazar. The Toppers won 10-7 in a third set tiebreak after splitting the first two sets, in what would prove to be the most closely contested matchup of the weekend.

The Toppers moved through the rest of the competition quickly, dispatching off Goddard 6-0 and Hope Christian 8-1.

Nailah Quartey hits a forehand against Zoey Williams of Goddard. Photo by Quaye Quartey

Aditya Viswanathan serves to the No.2 player on the Alamogordo team, Reese Gentry. Photo by Gowri Srinivasan

Michael and Nick Witkowski beat their opponents Jaxon Spencer and Reece Gentry, the No. 1 ranked doubles team from Alamogordo in an exciting 7-5 6-3. Photo by Gowri Srinivasan