The District 13-5A tennis tournament will begin in Bryan and finish at Texas A&M, but it figures to be all about A&M Consolidated.

Defending team champion Consol features the top seeds in all five divisions at the 13-5A tournament, which is scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.

The top two finishers in boys and girls singles, boys and girls doubles and mixed doubles will qualify for the Class 5A Region II tournament in Waco.

Consol could be as strong as last year, when the Tigers won the 13-5A championship in every category and sent 11 players to regionals. Consol's top seeds include defending girls singles champion Anik Cepeda, a junior. The others are Kevin Wright in boys singles, Jessica Raphael and Mariah York in girls doubles, Jorge Aguilar and Carlos Aguilar in boys doubles and Amanda Trapani and Nathan Cooner in mixed doubles.

"As long as we take care of business, we should get first and second in boys doubles, mixed doubles and girls singles," Consol coach Stephen Mercer said. "We just hope that we play to our ability. Our goal is to take care of business and not let our level come down, because we've been playing top-level tennis all spring."

Other seeded Tigers are Kevin Duffy and David Hillner (No. 2 in boys doubles), Sara Colunga and Brian Sherry (No. 2 in mixed doubles) and Heather Brien (No. 3 in girls singles). Consol's other entries are Jack Weber in boys singles and Lauren Ashlock and Miranda Barzilla in girls doubles.

Bryan has one singles player and a doubles team among the top four seeds. Michael Martin is the third seed in boys singles, while Matt Hillestad and Brady Atkins are seeded third in boys doubles.

Hillestad, a junior, will be seeking his third consecutive trip to regionals. The only Viking with regional experience, Hillestad qualified in mixed doubles as a freshman and in boys doubles last year.

"I think we're playing good ball," Bryan coach Randy Stewart said. "I don't want to say boys doubles is our best shot, but I think they're playing the best right now. They are playing good teams, and they are hitting the ball well."

The Vikings lineup will have Madison Franze and Jackie Schroeder in girls singles, along with girls doubles teams that combine AshLee Bilbo with Yvonne Gonzales and Ali Porter with Brittni Parker.

Bryan will have Josh Pownall in boys singles and Aaron Charanza and Jake Joiner in boys doubles. The Vikes' mixed doubles teams will be Justin Tedrick with Sara Reverman and Sterling Lindsey with Christine Kleinecke.

The first round will start at 9 a.m. Monday, with matches at Bryan High School and Sam Rayburn Middle School. The second and third rounds will be played Monday at the Bryan High courts.

On Tuesday, the division finals and third-place matches will be played at Texas A&M's Mitchell Tennis Center starting at 10 a.m. If the entry that loses the final has not played the winner of the third-place match, a play-back will be required to determine the second regional qualifier.

There will be no admission charge either day.

• Larry Bowen's e-mail address is larry.bowen@theeagle.com.

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