Oct 21, 2011

Hallsville 2nd year Head Coach Paul Haney knew it would be tough to keep the team focused when they were going into the last week against an 0-6 Marshall team.  In order to keep them focused they played 2 matches on Saturday losing to #13 Center and going on to beat Nacogdoches in the afternoon.  This kept them honest as they had to play over the weekend.  In the afternoon match against Nac Coach Haney tried a new line up taking Senior Sarah Lilly out of the mix line up and putting her at #1 doubles with first year player Taylor Stevenson where they lost a close match in their first match together.  Coach Haney knew that against Marshall if he didn't make a change they would probably be up 4-3 in doubles.  Making the changed worked out for the better when Sarah and Taylor won against Marshall while the boys swept doubles easily.  This put them up 4-2 and Marisela Soto and Ben Jones won the mix match.  Being up 5-2 after doubles Coach Haney felt pretty good.  Senior Sarah Lilly won the 10th match in a weird way which left the Bobcats in a shock.  She won the first set and the girl had to go to a choir concert so she forfeited.  This gave the Bobcats a 10-2 win and their first ever district title.  Coach Haney stood there for a few minutes in shock and then continued to coach out the rest of the match.  The boys swept the match 9-0.  Coach Larry Hurta from Marshall told the team that it was the quickest match they had played all year.  Under Coach Haney and Assistant Coach Kevin Ivy the Bobcats posted their best record 8-3 (7-0 district).  The team has made a big turn around as 4 years ago they went 0-7, then 1-6, 4-8 taking 2nd place in district, and now 8-3 (7-0 district) winning their first district title in school history.  The team will compete at regionals for the 2nd year in a row in Grapevine, Texas.