This year’s (Monticello Empire League) MEL tournament was one for the books. Sixteen doubles and 16 singles teams, composed of four schools, competed for top four to be able to qualify for Sections. Armijo qualified to bring two doubles teams and two singles players- four seniors, one junior and one sophomore. Competing in the double’s team brackets were Kaden Vang and Sharon Vuong, and Carisma Carrion and Leslie Silva; single’s bracket was Ally Weston and Erin Cruz.

On day one, all players competed for the opportunity to come back for day two. The teams were seeded and then competed as follows:

Carrion and Silva (#8) competed against the #9 and #1 team before being eliminated.

Weston (#9) competed against the #8 and #16 player before being eliminated

Cruz (#11) competed against the #6 and #14 player before being eliminated

Vang and Vuong (#2), qualified to return to Day 2, which was tournament overall placement day. On Day 1 they won against the 11th seed, lost to the 10th seed, but won against the 6th seed, which qualified them to return on Day 2.  Day 2, they won all three matches and took 4th place in the tournament. They were given their MEL All-League patch and will compete at sections on Saturday, May 13 at Bear Creek High School.

“To say I’m proud of all our MEL qualifiers is an understatement,” said Coach Lesenda Flores. “They competed incredibly well and put up a great fight. Their dedication, being coachable, hard working and adhering to adversity is what got them to compete with the best of the best  that this league had to offer.”