Kaydence Arrey and Olivia Suazo had hardly ever played together as a pair.
But team coach Nancy Suazo opted to put the two sophomores together for the individual tournament.
The decision paid off. The two took down everyone in their path to win a district tennis championship at the individual tournaments in Taos on May 2-4.
The tournament’s top girls pair, from Robertson, was withdrawn from the tournament before playing their first match after a first-round bye.
Suazo and Arrey were the No. 3 seed in the tournament. They easily won their first two matches, losing a combined five games over four sets.
The next day, they took down the No. 2 seed from Taos to reach the Saturday final.
The pair faced off with a Santa Fe Prep team. And Española came out with the win, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.
Suazo and Arrey are the No. 3 seed at the state tournament.
A year ago, Suazo played with Jennifer Gallegos and won the district title, then finished fourth at state.
Also from Española, Ian Gaytan won third place in the district tournament to qualify for state, where he is unseeded.
The last boys individual to qualify from Española was a doubles pair in 2019.
Gaytan was the No. 3 seed in the district, and had a first-round bye. He won one match on May 2 to reach the quarterfinal, then defeated an opponent from Taos, before falling to St. Michael’s Aidan Gonzales. In the third-place match, Gaytan faced Los Alamos’ Aditya Viswanathan, and won 6-4, 6-4.
Team Brackets
Two years ago was believed to be the first state tournament team win in Española girls tennis history, after years of close losses. This year, they are guaranteed to make it that far.
The Lady Sundevils earned the No. 4 seed in the state tournament and will have a first-round bye. On Friday evening, they will face the winner between No. 5 Belen and No. 12 Grants for a chance to advance to the semifinals for the second-straight year after a program best in 2023.
Española has already beaten both of those teams this year, winning 7-2 against Grants at home in March, and 6-3 over Belen at the Albuquerque Academy Tournament.
A victory there would likely put them against top seed Albuquerque Academy, the four-time defending champions, on Saturday morning.
The boys team, meanwhile, earned the No. 6 seed, and will face No. 11 Belen on Friday morning.
Last year, Española was the No. 11 seed, and won 9-0 over No. 6 before losing in the quarterfinals.
If the Sundevils win their first match, they will have a tough task against No. 3 Los Alamos, who won 6-0 in district play.