Montague County athletes competed at the state tennis tournament on Thursday at the Blossom Tennis Center in San Antonio.
The five athletes from Gold-Burg, Prairie Valley and Saint Jo lost their first round matchups, but still broke a several year streak for Montague County just qualifying in the first place.
The girl’s doubles team of Kelly Contreras and Shadie Whitaker from Gold-Burg hoped to pull some more magic.
Coming into the regional tournament as a two seed and matched up against other district champions throughout, they proved doubters wrong by not just qualifying for state, but becoming regional champions.
Unfortunately, that magic was not in the cards at the state meet. The duo lost the first set 6-1, but were more competitive in the second set. It was not enough as they lost 6-3 and were eliminated from the tournament.
For Saint Jo, Jacqueline Hanna was the only singles player from the county to qualify.
Singles players who make it to the state level often have several years of experience outside of school to draw upon which makes it tough for any aspiring player.
Hanna was competitive in her opening match in both sets, but lost both by the score of 6-3.
From Prairie Valley the mixed doubles team of Isaac Yeargin and Veronica Gutierrez qualified as well.
Many schools employ the strategy of pairing their best boy and girls players together in the hopes they can qualify for state if they mesh well.
It worked for this pair, but it came to an end in their first round matchup. They lost both sets 6-0 to get knocked from the series.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.