5A STATE TENNIS: Do clinches Nederland’s first state tennis title

Published 10:49 am Friday, May 17, 2019

When Brandon Do scored his last point, he let out a scream of so many emotions.

“This is, like the most amazing thing ever,” he said. “I was so relieved it was over. I just let all my feelings out at this point.”

Do battled a stomach virus since Sunday, had to take intravenous fluids during school and said he didn’t gain his energy until the night before his UIL 5A boys singles first-round match.

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By Friday morning, Do emerged a state champion, the first one in Nederland’s tennis history.

The junior capped his first season with the Bulldogs by defeating Jerod Wilson of Red Oak 6-1, 6-4 at the tournament at Texas A&M University in College Station.

After 29 years of coaching, Jorge Lopez can call himself a championship coach.

“It’s the biggest moment for me,” he said. “Whenever I was coaching soccer in 1999, we were in the finals. I wanted to win a state title, but we were second. I always said, soccer or tennis, I wanted to win a title.”

Granbury beat Nederland 2-1 in the 1999 4A boys soccer final. Twenty years later, Do has a gold-plated, wooden plaque for his school.

The victory ends an adventurous past 12 months for Do and his sister, freshman Megan Do. The siblings were attending school in the Fort Bend ISD this time last year when their mother told them one day after class they were moving to the Golden Triangle.

“I thought she was kidding,” Do said.

Since, the Dos’ parents have been operating Reel Cajun Restaurant in Port Arthur, Nederland won its 24th team tennis championship last fall and made the 5A Region III semifinals, and Megan teamed with senior Jayci Wong to make it to the semifinal round in this week’s 5A girls doubles tournament at A&M.

“All of us as a whole, we worked so hard with coach Lopez,” Brandon said. “I’m really happy for them. This was Jayci’s last year. I’m glad she came home with something.”

Lopez had not had an entry win a state tournament match until this year. Brandon Do finished third in the 6A Region III singles last spring while playing with Fort Bend Travis, narrowly missing the state tourney.

This time, Brandon was not going to be denied.

After beating Isaac Cordova of El Paso 6-1, 6-2 and Peyton Dooley of Highland Park, 6-0, 6-7, 6-4, Do raced to another hot start against Wilson but found himself down 0-2 in the second set.

“Whenever you beat someone like that, they’re going to throw everything at you,” Lopez said. “That’s what the Red Oak kid did. He played amazing. The first six games of the second set went like a high-level college match. [Do] had to weather the storm, find how not to make any more errors.”

Do felt both the quick start and sickness had caught up to him for a moment.

“[Wilson] started playing way better the second set,” Do said “Mentally I was too relaxed and let up a little bit. I give credit to him.”

Do dug out of the hole and took a 4-3 lead before eventually marching to the title, while the energy-zapping virus also took a loss as well.

“So tired,” Do said afterward. “I was extremely tired.”

I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews

 

About I.C. Murrell

I.C. Murrell was promoted to editor of The News, effective Oct. 14, 2019. He previously served as sports editor since August 2015 and has won or shared eight first-place awards from state newspaper associations and corporations. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, grew up mostly in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and graduated from the University of Arkansas at Monticello.

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