Local tennis doubles primed for quarters

The Gila Valley is well represented at the 5A Division II state tennis doubles tournament with Cibola's Jacob Nino and Albert Castro for the boys and San Luis' Julissa Dominguez and Ariana Huerta in the girls reaching the quarterfinals.

Both play at 4:30 today at the Paseo Racquet Center in Phoenix, and will be in the semifinals and finals on Saturday if they win.

Raiders Nino and Castro have really crashed the party. They beat an eight-seeded North team, San Luis and finally Pinnacle, 6-0, 6-0, to be the only unseeded team in the quarterfinals.

"I haven't had a team in the quarterfinals in five years," Cibola coach Duncan Phillips said. "We don't get to the quarterfinals often in this town."

Cibola's reward for getting this far is top-seeded Ironwood Ridge's Timothy Holten and Dillon Kennedy. They are USTA ranked and undefeated on the season. For Yuma area tennis players, taking on Phoenix teams also means fighting the mystique of kids who've been playing organized tennis years before they ever picked up a tennis racquet.

Phillips said Nino and Castro keep asking him "Hey coach, do you think we can beat them?," and he says it comes down to, "You hit the yellow ball over the net."

For their part, Cibola isn't here by accident. They've racked up a 15-3 regular season record and carry a lot of talent.

As a freshman, Castro was the Raiders' top singles player and Phillips said he has a big time forehand. Castro took fellow prominent Yuma tennis player - Antelope's Madison Murdock - the distance before losing to the senior.

"You're going to hear a lot about him (Castro) in the next few years," Phillips said.

Nino provides the 100-plus mph serve and experience as a senior. Phillips has watched Nino improve more every year and thinks he could beat his junior doppleganger in straight games.

San Luis' Dominguez and Huerta have earned their four seed after a 10-5 regular season record and play against fifth seed Ayson Fix and Brittany Brewer from Deer Valley.

Although all the Sidewinders lost to Deer Valley early in the season, Dominguez and Huerta represent San Luis best and haven't directly played Deer Valley's second best team.

Dominguez has the strength and Huerta has the control, but San Luis coach Sonya Escalante said their collective strength is communication.

"They figure out a way to use whatever needs to be used, the strength or control," Escalante said.

Helping out is how much the two enjoy playing doubles together and how they've been working all season toward this goal even going so far as doing extra running.

"I'm pretty sure my girls are going to get it tomorrow," Escalante said. "I'm pretty sure, but I won't be able to see the end of the game, I'll be walking around."