Varsity Tennis Attains Third – Sends Four to State
The Warriors varsity tennis team took third place when they traveled to Arlington last week to play in the district/regional tournament on Monday, April 12, and Tuesday, April 13.
“As a team we overcame a tremendous milestone due to not filling a full team and still managing to take third place of 10 schools, falling behind Parish Episcopal and Midland Christian,” said head coach Chase Hardin.
“We received a lot of compliments from other coaches and spectators around the tennis center,” he said. “We proved that character overpowers skill.”
Seniors Josh Fischer and Tyler Parent, and sophomores Lizzy Robinson and Kara Vogelzang are Liberty’s four state qualifiers who will travel to Waco this weekend, April 23-24, to play in the state tournament.
In action last week, district/regional champions Fischer and Parent continued their undefeated season after beating First Baptist Academy 6-0, 6-0 and Lubbock Trinity 6-0, 6-1. After losing the first set 3-6 to Parish Episcopal, they came back and won 7-6, 7-5 in the second and third set, and in the finals beat Dallas Christian 7-6, 7-6.
Robinson and Vogelzang beat Tyler Bishop 6-1, 6-3, fell to the defending state champions of Parish 1-6, 3-6, and then turned around and won three matches in a row to Trinity, Midland Christian, and Lubbock Trinity, who had earlier beat Robinson and Vogelzang in the pre-district tournament.
Helping Liberty’s team place third was the other men’s doubles team of senior Matt Stanley and sophomore Chris Wells. After falling to Dallas Christian in their first match in a very tough 3-set match, they turned it around and beat Fort Worth Christian and First Baptist Academy, before falling to Midland Christian 5-8.
“These two guys have never really played with each other, and with one being a senior and one a sophomore, they had a tremendous season,” said Hardin. 
Also helping the team was freshman Louis Vargas who lost to Tyler Grace in the first round, then turned it around and beat First Baptist and Tyler Bishop before falling to Dallas Christian.
“For Louis only to be playing for a year, he has come a long way, and I am looking forward to working with him more in the future,” said Hardin.
Sophomore Casey Vander Stoep also contributed to the team. He fell to Parish in the first round, beat Trinity in the second round, and lost to Tyler Bishop in his final match of the tournament.
Freshman Haylee Smith only got to play one match of the tournament and lost to the district champion of Parish Episcopal.
Hardin said, “I am very proud of everyone who participated in the tournament and very pleased to represent such a good group of kids.”