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Three-Way Dance: Bulger, Cohen, Goswami book trip to state
BY Kevin Hageland, khageland@starlocalnews.com
As fans of the NCAA Basketball Tournament can attest, seeding doesn't always hold.
However, the Plano West tennis team showed seeding still has some legitimacy Monday and Tuesday at the Region I Tennis Tournament as the Wolves had entries ranked No. 1, 1 and 3, and left Lubbock with finishes of first, first and third place.
"If you look at the seeding, we did exactly what we were supposed to do," said Morgen Walker, West head coach. "And all five of our players came home with hardware, so it was a good two days."
Bulger and Cohen began the tournament Monday by mowing through teams from Mansfield and Lubbock, dropping just seven games along the way.
"They got on and off the court pretty quickly in the first two rounds," Walker said. "They really got after it and played well."
The semifinals provided a significantly more difficult challenge as Bulger and Cohen played the Southlake Carroll duo of John Wooldridge and Collin Alexander in both team's third match of the day. The Dragons took the second set (6-3), but that was bookended by controlling sets from the Wolves (6-1 in first, 6-2 in third).
Tuesday's regional finals were a rematch of the district finals against Allen's Dillion Pineda and Mustafa Ahmad.
"Regional finals are a different experience," Walker said. "We've been there before, both in team and individual season. Allen doesn't have that experience and I think that means something at this level."
As was the case two weeks ago, Bulger and Cohen defeated Pineda and Ahmed.
"We just don't match up well with that team," said Justin Quest, Allen head coach. "But give credit to West, they played well."
West's pair won by the same score as the 8-5A finals (6-2, 6-4) to take regionals.
"The guys did what they had to do in the finals," Walker said. "They put enough serves in play to keep Allen honest, returned enough serves to put the pressure on them and had good volleys up at the net."
Bulger and Cohen played to their No. 1 seed, a feat matched by Goswami.
The boys singles player blazed through the opening day of the tournament, dispatching players from Midland Lee, North Crowley and El Paso Franklin to reach the finals while losing only 11 combined games.
"Sanjay went about his business and played well enough to control his first three matches," Walker said. "The semifinal was big. Ricardo is a good player and he took Sanjay to three sets in the fall; that match was probably Sanjay's best of the tournament."
But winning a regional title isn't easy and Goswami faced a stiff test in Tuesday's final against San Angelo Central's Nick Melott, who took the opener (7-5).
"In that first set, Sanjay had a lot of errors on balls he normally doesn't miss," Walker said. "But he was able to gain more control in the second and third sets."
Both ended with Goswami on top (6-3), meaning the Wolves left Lubbock with a second regional title. Those victories also pushed Bulger, Cohen and Goswami through to the Class 5A State Tennis Tournament, which is April 30-May 1 at World of Tennis Lakeway.
"You want to go into the state tournament as a regional champion because in theory you get a better draw," Walker said. "It doesn't always work that way though and our boys know state is not going to be easy."
Not all West's regional competitors qualified for state though as the girls doubles team of sophomore Seema Prakash and freshman Alahna Reto finished third.
The No. 3 seed advanced to the semifinals after defeating duos from Richland and Carroll. No such outcome would occur in the semifinals as West lost to Abilene's Caroline Morris and Marlee Cutbirth. Prakash and Reto won the first set (6-3), but the weather put a halt to that momentum.
"There was lightning and rain so we had to leave the court for 45 minutes," Walker said. "After that, Abilene came back out stronger."
Abilene reversed the score over the final two sets, notching back-to-back 6-3 wins to advance to the finals. Prakash and Reto then defeated Flower Mound Marcus' Michelle Griffith and Jordan McDaniel in a rematch of the District 8-5A Finals in the third-place match. That got the Lady Wolves a bronze medal, but not a play-back match and shot at state.
"The girls came back, played well in the third-place match and finished the season nicely," Walker said. "This experience should help them for next year."
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