In a team tournament that lasted until after 9 p.m., the varsity tennis team took the match loss against the Texas High Tigers last week. The Hawks defeated the Tigers last year for the first time and were looking to start a streak.

“We lost a close battle 7-12,” Coach Erik Pickett said. “We started in the afternoon just a little before 4 p.m. and we finished near 10 p.m. It was probably about a six-hour or more match, probably one of the longest team matches I’ve ever experienced in my coaching career.”

In team tennis, each singles and doubles match goes to the team score, and the first team to get to 10 sets wins the match.

All of the players had long sets, playing tiebreakers back to back.

“I think it’s just because they wanted it more than we did,” said Gabriel Erie who played singles and doubles. “I think everyone did really well, but it was really late.”

Senior Lynleigh Henderson also played two grueling sets.

¨My doubles partner, Gabby Erie and I had a 10 point tiebreaker and you have to win by two. We ended up winning 19-17,¨ Lynleigh said.

The JV tennis team plays next Thursday at home. The varsity has a match with Atlanta at home on Sept. 16.