Marble Falls tennis captures district titles

CAPTION: Cooper Womack shows four fingers on his right hand and holds his gold medal with his left indicating his fourth consecutive district title in boys singles. Courtesy photos

The Marble Falls High School tennis team earned three District 24-4A championships and a runner-up medal April 1 at the district tournament in Taylor.

Leading the charge were senior Cooper Womack, who won his fourth consecutive boys singles championship, while Cooper Kelley and Amaris Mitchell-Ochoa won the mixed doubles title, and Payton Glaser and Nicolas Smith are the boys doubles champions. Nevaeh Nelson (Montoya) is the silver medalist in girls singles.

While the boys are returning to the Class 4A Region III tournament, the Lady Mustangs will be making their debuts.

Womack was dominant in winning his title. In addition to winning all three of his tournament matches in straight sets, he didn’t drop a single game.

“He goes on the court and gets a job done,” head coach Samuel Whitley said. “Cooper is on a mission right now – to get back to (the Class 4A) state (tournament). He’s focused and we know what the goal is, but he’s not putting the cart before the horse. He knows it’s next ball, next ball, next ball.”

CAPTION: The boys doubles team of Nicolas Smith and Payton Glaser is the district champion.

In the boys doubles tournament, Glaser and Smith received a bye in the first round and won their first match of the tournament 6-3, 6-2.

But the Marble Falls coaches say the match was more challenging than the score indicates.

So in the final, the Mustangs left no doubt.

“We blew that team away 6-1, 6-2,” Whitley said. “Peyton and Nicolas’ first serves were on. When your first serve is on, it puts a lot of pressure on the team, and we were serving great in that second match. We got loosened up, warmed up a little bit, and dominated the doubles bracket.”

Before spring break, Kelley was playing boys singles. But when his middle school partner Mitchell-Ochoa, with whom he won a mixed doubles district title, picked up her racket to join the program, assistant coach Nathan Redman decided to reunite the two on the varsity. At the tournament, they won 6-1, 6-0 in the first match and 6-1, 6-3 in the second match.

“They dominated in mixed doubles,” Whitley said. “They had some competition against Lampasas in the championship match. They won 6-4, 6-3. They play very well together. Their style complements each other.”

Mitchell-Ochoa is the volleyball team’s starting middle blocker.

“So she’s not afraid to get to the net and be very aggressive,” Whitley said. “And in doubles, you need to be very aggressive at the net. A lot of times, you have someone who’s timid at the net, and so she’s not timid, she gets up there, she’s very aggressive and Cooper is a good all-around tennis player. He was doing wonderful in singles. But they, just for whatever reason, seem to gel together. They just complement each other.”

CAPTION: The mixed doubles team of Amaris Mitchell-Ochoa and Cooper Kelly and their district gold medals.

Whitley said he was “very pleased” with Nelson’s (Montoya) performance. He noted she played doubles when the spring season was starting and was moved to singles where “she did a great job.”

Her only loss was to Taylor senior Rylee Michna, who has won three consecutive Class 4A state titles.

“She actually picked up two games on Michna, but she got second place,” Whitley said. “Coach Redman and myself had a lot of confidence in her playing in the singles bracket and making it to regionals. That was her goal before the season started. I gave each person an index card and I asked them to write down what their goal is for the spring, and her goal at the very top was to make it to regionals. And she accomplished her goal. So we’re very pleased with her. She played within her game, which is excellent. That’s why she was able to do what she did.”

The coach also commended Jared Smith, who lost to Burnet’s Nick Dietrich, in the quarterfinals 4-6, 4-6, and the girls doubles team of Mia Hernandez and Chloe Brown, who lost in a playback.

“Very proud of Jared’s play,” Whitley said. “He played a smart match.”

Whitley, who is battling esophagus cancer, commended the players and Redman for what the accomplishments of the 2026 spring season.

“This has been a very unique season for us,” he said. “We have gone to a lot of tournaments, we’ve won a lot of medals, both at the (junior varsity) and varsity levels. We have been very successful, and I’m very, very proud. I make it to practices. But coach Redman takes them to tournaments, and he gets all the fun and I do all the paperwork back home. The kids have done really well. Coach Redman and I emphasize trying to teach them as much as we can in practice, so that they can make their adjustments during the game itself. In other words, they don’t need us right there in their ears the whole time. They go out and play.”

The regional tournament is April 17-18 at Bryan High School. The top three in each division advance to the state tournament.

CAPTION: Nevaeh Nelson (Montoya) and her silver medal thanks to her performance in the girls singles bracket.