PHOTO BY KENNETH PEISER Lampasas’ varsity tennis team poses after placing fourth out of 14 teams at the Lake Travis tournament last Friday. The Lampasas varsity tennis team was scattered all over Austin Friday.

But, at the end of the day, all the members found themselves in the same place: fourth place.

Considering the soon-to-be Class 3A Lampasas was battling against a number of Class 5A programs at the Lake Travis tournament, head coach Kenneth Peiser was extremely pleased with the performance.

“We had a great day of tennis,” the coach said. “With 14 teams and three-fourths of them being Class 5A [schools], we were in a good tournament [with good] competition.”

The Badgers and Lady Badgers began the day at the Austin Tennis Academy at 5:45 a.m. before the team was broken up for matches. Some players remained at the warm-up location, while others headed for the Lake Travis High School’s courts or the Lakeway World of Tennis club.

Regardless of the location, the Lampasas players had impressive results.

In boys’ “A” action, Mason Thornton and Alex Morua teamed up and won their first two doubles matches before running into a powerful top-ranked Lake Travis duo and falling in straight sets.

“[Lake Travis] was a little too much for us,” Peiser said. “[Thornton/ Morua] played really good tennis on the day, defeating Bowie and Westwood in the first rounds.”

The team placed fourth in the division.

Lillie Davis and Katie Shaw joined forces in girls’ “A” competition and hit the courts running. They reached the finals before losing to Lake Travis.

“[My players] were hitting shots aggressively, placing ground strokes cross court and attacking overheads,” Peiser said. “They played great.”

Chris Monroe played to a thirdplace finish in the boys’ “B” singles division, despite being down in his last match before mounting a comeback.

In other boys’ “B” action, Chris McWaters lost his opener but bounced back to earn the consolation championship. Zach Holcomb and Alvin Aleman paired up to earn third place in doubles.

“[Holcomb/ Aleman] came from behind in their first match and fought hard in the second, but fell in the semifinals match by two points,” Peiser said.

In mixed doubles play, Dylan Ham/ Ashley Hause and Jeremy Cantu/ Nichole Queen were unable to advance.

“They played well, just not experienced in matches yet,” Peiser said.

In girls’ “B” action, the duo of Mikenzie Myrick and Emily Bever paired up for the first time and claimed second place, falling three points shy of first after they lost in a tiebreaker.

“[They] had a great day of play for never playing together,” Peiser said of the duo. “They are improving every day.”

Mackenzie Benton won her first singles match but lost in her second outing. Casey Scott followed the same pattern.

“It was a very good day of play [overall] that we intend to build on and keep going,” Peiser said.

Host team Lake Travis won the tournament. Westwood edged out Lampasas by taking third place.

Lampasas returns to the courts Friday at Copperas Cove before heading to Fredericksburg the following weekend for a two-day tournament.