After winning against Irving Nimitz 19-0 last Wednesday and finalizing their 6-0 district record, Coppell tennis players were in high spirits coming into their Class 6A bi-district match against Denton Guyer. 

At the end of Tuesday night, Coppell was victorious against Denton Guyer, 10-2, in its bi-district match at the Coppell High School Tennis Center. 

On Thursday at 4 p.m., Coppell will face Mansfield at area playoffs held at Grapevine High School. 

Coppell players were focused on improving their doubles scores. Because doubles are the first matches played, it is important for the team to get ahead and start strong with major wins in boys and girls doubles. 

“As a team, we practiced a lot of doubles because it’s what you start with and it’s really important to get a good start against the other team so you don’t fall behind in the beginning,” senior captain Clark Parlier said. 

Coppell won all singles matches and managed to only give up two doubles matches to Guyer.  

Entering bi-district, Coppell was ranked higher than Guyer but focused on approaching matches with no expectations and without allowing themselves to become overconfident. 

“If you look at line by line, we were better than the other team. Sometimes when you know you’re a stronger player you tend to relax a little bit and play to their level but they did a good job taking care of business,” Coppell coach Rich Foster said.

While focusing on skills and honing in on what they have practiced are important to Coppell’s win, many players credited team spirit as helping them win against Guyer. 

“The team did really good today and a big reason is we’re always there to support each other and we always cheer for each other, that’s where a lot of the spirit comes from,” junior Rishita Uppuluri said. 

Looking forward, Coppell hopes to improve their doubles record and beat Southlake Carroll, one of Coppell’s biggest competitors. 

“Hopefully we get all of our players back from injuries and illnesses and can get all of our doubles teams together. I would love to go 7-0 and really be clicking in doubles. Our ultimate, longtime goal is to take the first Coppell team to the state tournament and this was one of the first steps towards that,” Foster said. 

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