By Zack Cunningham/sportsreporter@trcle.com
The Cleburne Yellow Jacket tennis teams will be traveling to Aledo on Friday to participate in the Varsity Aledo Tournament.
Participating alongside Cleburne will be Crowley, Fort Worth Country Day, Peaster, Justin Northwest, Joshua, Boswell, Granbury, Azle, Weatherford, North Crowley, Arlington Heights, Trimble Tech, Stephenville, Brock and Aledo.
Cleburne head coach Stacy Foster said his team has met and exceeded expectations in the spring season and will need to improve to have a shot at advancing past the district tournament.
Foster said Katie Metcalf has continued to answer the call with her recent performances in tournaments.
“Metcalf has been playing really well,” Foster said. “I look for her to be seeded [in this tournament]. Everyone else is doing decent and actually a little better than I thought they would with us finishing third overall out of 16 teams in the Saginaw Tournament.
“It’s going to be tough to get out of our district since every other team has at least one champ or super-champ player. We’re going to have to play really well and unless you’re going to play a lot of extra tournaments and get that little bit of help, it’s going to be hard to get out. There’s no easy team in there.
“All of our players are playing decent. If they’re losing in the opening rounds, they’re either winning consolation or placing fourth or fifth, but if you’re not consistently placing first or second, your chances of getting out are a lot less, considering the competition. There’s a lot more added pressure on the kids and our district is probably the second hardest district in the whole state.”
Foster said competing in a multitude of tournaments gives his team a variety of styles to play against and staves off stagnancy from going against the same type of athletes multiple times.
Foster said playing outside of district will keep the opposing teams guessing when it comes time to move on to regionals.
“We like to play in tournaments that will give you as many matches as possible,” Foster said. “We don’t like to play in single-elimination tournaments or tournaments that have our district opponents in them since we’ve already played them. It’s good for our players to learn how to play against all types of players.
“It’s definitely kind of a cat-and-mouse game. Especially, if you have a couple of players who you don’t know for sure what they’re going to play. Who’s going to be there is a big part of it.”
Foster said he expects the tournament in Aledo to provide a mix of styles for his team to combat and will serve as a measuring stick to see how the Jackets will fare in district play.
“I’m looking forward to a good tournament at Aledo,” Foster said. “They always have a good team and I’m sure they’re going to have some pretty good teams there. It’ll give us a good test to see how we’re doing.”
Tournament play starts at 8 a.m. Friday at Aledo High School. The district tournament is set for April 7-8.
