Tennis set a record for the most All District accolades in varsity tennis history at the end of their fall 2024 season. The Mavs received nine all districts and two honorable mentions. The Mavs also made history by beating the Round Rock Dragons for the first time, not just once but twice.

Junior Aahana Gondalia believes the team practicing new techniques and focusing on building a bond with their doubles partner to be most successful.

“My partner is a freshman and I didn’t know her well before this year, but we focused a lot on our double teams,” Gondalia said. “You need a bond and when we were practicing it helped us to build that bond and create that connection we needed.”

Not only did the Mavs experience success in their doubles matches, but they also learned new aspects of the game that helped them excel in singles, which made up six of their all district mentions.

“[Coach] taught us a lot of new techniques to use this year, we used something called birdseye which we did not do in previous years and I think it helped us win our games,” Gondalia said. “This was my favorite season I have played, we finally beat our rival Round Rock and I feel like that was all because of our dedication leading up to this year.”

McNeil plays within a largely competitive tennis district with multiple top state ranked teams which tennis coach Trey Bush believes often makes it harder for the team to prove themselves, but they did this fall and their hard work paid off, placing them third in district.

“I am very proud of our accomplishments this Fall, for the first time ever McNeil defeated Round Rock High School not just once but twice to take third place overall,” Bush said. “We are in the most difficult tennis district in the State of Texas, and like I told the team before playing Round Rock High School for third place, we have worked hard over the last five years and it is time we be rewarded for it.”