Port Aransas High School's 1-A varsity tennis team played against 3-A and 4-A schools at the Bash by the Bay Tournament in Port Lavaca on Friday, March 27.

"With bigger schools comes tougher competition," said coach Piper Boies. "Overall, I thought we competed very well. We got the chance to see some different competition, and it was a great warm-up for district," she said.

Matches consisted of eight-game pro sets with a tie-break at eight all. The finals matches consisted of two out of three, with a super tie-break for the third set.

The Port Aransas players lost in their opening rounds, then fought their way through the consolation bracket.

Kasey Reed made it to the consolation finals. After opening with a bye, a Bay City player stopped Reed's forward motion, 8-6. He went on to play another Bay City player, this time winning (no score available). In the consolation championship match, he dueled a Rockport player before bowing out, 8-6.

Port Aransas' other entry in the boys' singles division, Clark Wilson, was taken out by a Rockport player in the opening round of play. The eventual champion from Rockport took Wilson down in the semi-finals.

The girls' doubles team of Shannon Bundy and Katie Fries opened with a tough loss to a Lamar team that sent them into the consolation bracket. There, an Aransas Pass team stopped their forward progress, 8-5.

In boys' doubles, Zach Merrill and Kevin Sikes went to a tie-break in the opening round, but dropped the match in the tie-break, 7-2. A Calhoun High School (Port Lavaca) pair put the Port Aransas team out of the running with an 8-2 victory.

The team will compete in Orange Grove today, Thursday, April 2, the last tournament before district, which will be Monday and Tuesday, April 6 and 7, in Alice.