Quincy Boys and Girls both earn team wins over Grandview

QUINCY — The Quincy Jackrabbits boys and girls tennis teams both earned 3-2 victories over Grandview in their windy Saturday morning matches. 

“Our girls doubles had really even matches with Grandview and they had either split sets or tie breakers,” said Jacks girls tennis coach Antonia Ronish. 

The Jacks girls second doubles team took their victory very early with Caroline Tafolla and Maria Ortiz winning their match 6-1, 7-6. Their first doubles team of Melanie Alcaraz and Vanessa Quintero played a hard-fought match that lasted almost two and a half hours where they were finally able to take the win against Grandview. 

“We started off strong, we went to tiebreaker on the first set which was (five)-seven,” said Alcaraz. “We started getting caught up in the second set which was six-two.” 

“After that we had to go to the third set which we were leading five- one, they caught up, but then we won,” said Quintero. 

All eyes fell on the third girls doubles match, the final match of the day and the one that would decide who would take home the team victory after Grandview won in both girls singles matches. The third girls doubles team consisted of Kimberly Solano and Diana Aguilar who are both JV players who were brought up to varsity that day to fill in for absent players, said Antonia Ronish. 

The girls had been moved up this way before, but this would be the first time both players would be paired up in a varsity match, said the coach. The girls would have to go into tiebreaker after splitting their sets 6-4 and 3-6. 

“We were doing pretty good the first set, pretty tight ending and then the second one when we split sets, we kind of went down,” said Aguilar. “Then the last one we clutched up and won 6-3.” 

“Our coaches told us after we split sets, ‘The team win depends on you guys’, and that definitely made me think, this is our chance,” said Solano. “Splitting sets and these little victories I think is preparing us for the future.” 

Antonia Ronish said she is very proud of the team’s performance and saw improvement from each player. 

The boys' side had very similar results, winning all three of their doubles matches with Grandview coming out on top of the singles matches. Ian Shin of the second doubles team said he and his partner Alejandro Barajas were able to come out on top after improving their team cooperation leading up to this game. 

“Last time we lost against them, but we got better throughout the season,” said Shin. “We got our essence together, we got going together, we must know what the other is thinking and it’s like playing as one person.” 

The boys first singles match between Quincy’s Jacob Bishop and Grandview's’ Joseph Alaniz was another long and very close match, but Alaniz came up with the victory. Last time these players faced each other their match lasted about three hours, and Bishop had come out on top, said Jacks boys coach Ronnie Ronish. 

“(Alaniz) is a really good guy, awesome player to play against,” said Bishop.  

Ronnie Ronish said the boys overall played really well despite the weather. Wind speeds reached a high of around 18 miles per hour during Saturday’s tennis matches, which had a major impact on the performance of all players. 

“I’ve told a lot of my players that you’re playing two different opponents, you’re playing your (actual) opponent and the wind,” he said. “It’s a good thing to try and get some experience under our belts with it.” 

The biggest lesson from Saturday’s match, he said, is the Jacks’ overall ability to play together. Ronnie Ronish said he saw a lot of teammates complimenting one another and building off each other on both the boys and girls side. 

“The wind kind of forces you to do that,” he said. “You have to adjust well because what you do normally might not work.” 

The singles have also shown improvement where they showed increasing mindfulness of the ball and not trying to force everything when they can wait for better opportunities to strike, he said. 

“Just kind of reacting to what they give us,” said the coach. 

The Jacks’ next three games will all be rematches against Selah, Ephrata and Othello. Antonia Ronish said the teams are going to use what they had learned from the last encounters with these teams to prepare themselves to face against strongest assets. 

“We’re going to try and work on defending,” she said. “Also being on the offense this time around so we can get more points and be more confident.” 

The Quincy Jacks will be playing at home against Selah tonight at 3 p.m. 

    Melanie Alcaraz and her doubles partner Vanessa Quintero had a long and hard-fought match that ended in their victory.
  

    Ian Shin said that he and his partner Alejandro Barajas were able to earn a victory through their strong team bond.
  

    Quincy first doubles team Saidt Alvarez and Manuel Torrez quickly took down their opponents with a 6-1, 6-0 victory.
  

    Quincy’s Fransico Sandoval and his opponent Christian Downs had multiple strong volleys against each other.

    Jacks’ Jacob Bishop and Grandview’s Joseph Alaniz will have strong matches that can last multiple hours any time they face one another.

    Jacks’ girls second doubles team, Caroline Tafolla and Maria Ortiz, had a strong showing in Saturday’s matches winning theirs 6-1, 7-6.
  

    Vanessa Quintero was able to keep her mind clear during her and Melanie Alcaraz’s final match of the day.