The Española tennis teams are filled with personalities.
It is evident throughout matches as they cheer each other on, react strongly to just about every point, or a ‘Go Devils!’ spreads through the courts. Even opposing teams notice and comment on their team camaraderie.
“We’ve just subscribed to trying to be positive,” said team coach Nancy Suazo. “Tennis is good for them. It’s a way to just relax and compete. My nature is to try to stay as positive as possible. Positivity wins in the end. We’re family.”
Española Valley’s tennis teams both won their quad in Española over the weekend, and continue on strong seasons.
The 2023 season was the best in school history by many measures. The boys team won their first round match in an 11-over-6 upset to reach the quarterfinals. The girls team made it all the way to the semifinals, defeating the No. 3 seed. And a girls doubles team of Jennifer Gallegos and Olivia Suazo made the semifinals.
“I get really emotional when I talk about it,” said senior Ian Gaytan. “We’re a family. Just making history for our school is really nice, being a part of that is nice. Without our hard work and determination for what we like, and what we want with this sport, I don’t think we’d be there.”
And most of those players are returning. All six of the boys players return from last year, and four of the six girls do as well.
Since then, they practiced throughout the summer, often on their own time, and often early in the morning.
Ian Gaytan, now a senior, returns to his role as the top boys singles player. Gaytan has been playing the No. 1 flight for three years, and has for most of those years been one of the team’s oldest members and thus a leader.
“Being with the same group of boys for the past three years has been really nice,” Gaytan said.
For the girls, seniors Aubrianna Garduno and Gallegos are stepping in as the leaders.
At their home quad, the Sundevil teams both defeated all of Miyamura, Grants and Valencia.
The boys team went 26-1 in their matches, only losing one top singles match. They won 8-1 over a Miyamura team that was the No. 5 seed at state last year and reached the quarterfinals.
The girls team won 9-0 over Valencia, 7-2 over Grants, a team that made last year’s semifinals, and then sweated out a 5-4 victory over Miyamura, a strong team that has improved since making the quarterfinals in 2023.
The Sundevils tied Miyamura 3-3 in their singles matches, winning the top three, putting the match down the doubles. And they won the top two, with Suazo and Gallegos winning 7-5, 6-2 and Garduno and Isabella Archuleta winning theirs in a super-tiebreak.
Throughout the year, somewhat unintentionally, the Sundevils have faced a more difficult schedule. They faced top teams at tournaments in El Paso, Alamogordo, Carlsbad and Farmington.
Next weekend, the Sundevils are again at home as they host Los Alamos, St. Michael’s and Santa Fe Prep. They will continue to play in perhaps the hardest district for both boys and girls, but will do their best to come out on top.
“We have a target on our back,” Gaytan said. “When you have a target on your back, you have to play better. We’re looking at just working and grinding towards it.”
Suazo said the team is still accepting anyone who wants to join the team.