The tennis players hear the sweet sound of the bell and eagerly rush out to the parking lot as their fellow classmates drudgingly head to their next class. It’s tournament time, and that means getting out of school early to head to the location of the next tournament, which is usually not close by.

On February 26, the tennis team travelled to Ennis for the Varsity Madness tournament, a three-and-a-half hour trip that usually turns to four while traveling by school bus. The players of the team are accustomed to long trips, as they typically take one almost every Friday of the spring season.

“I don’t mind traveling a long way for tournaments because they give us great practice in preparation for district and regionals,” junior Zack Moore said. “Plus, I enjoy the bus rides because I get to sleep the whole way, which is especially nice during my junior year.”

The tennis team had a lot of success in this tournament, with six of the 10 teams making it to the finals and four of those teams winning their division overall. 1st place winners include the A mixed doubles team comprised of senior Aubree Cramer and junior Cullen Schoen, A girls singles player junior Ali Richter, the B girls doubles team of sophomore Gracie Morehead and  freshman Braylee Hagan, and B boys singles player freshman Griffin Johnson.

“Winning this tournament sets my partner, Cullen, and I up for a better seeding in the next tournament,” Cramer said. “Rankings can be very important when making the draws for district and regionals. Hopefully with our past successes, Cullen and I can make it to state.”

This past tournament marks the team’s third trip to Ennis in this school year. The first trip occurred in the fall season, when the team won regionals and advanced to state as a team for the first time in Texas High history.

“Playing in Ennis brings back fond memories because it’s a place where we always do well,” senior John Norton said. “There’s no better feeling than to go in on someone else’s turf and then proceed to beat the crap out of them like we did in regionals.”

Earlier in the spring, the tennis team attended the Highway 287 tournament. Although this tournament had many 6A schools in attendance, five of the 10 Texas High teams reached the finals, and Texas High won 1st in the girls A singles division.

“I think we do so well in Ennis because they have indoor courts for players to play on,” Schoen said. “We have indoor courts at Texas High, so we are used to the differences from outside courts while other teams are not.”

The spring season has only just begun, and the players still have many tournaments to go to in preparation for later in the season.

“Our upcoming tournaments will be a lot more challenging than the previous tournaments we have attended,” Moore said. “We might not win as much at these tournaments, but that is a necessary sacrifice since they better prepare us for competition we might see at regionals and state.”