Competing at the Region II 5A meet yesterday at Allen High School, juniors Jack Bennett and Chris Sun took first place in boys doubles, advancing to the state tournament on May 18-19 in Austin. Juniors Samantha Hayward and Daniela Benigno reached the girls doubles semifinal before falling to McKinney North.

“After defeating some teams like Red Oak, Frisco Liberty, and Texas High eventually in the final, we advanced to state,” Sun said. “It was really crazy when we won, I don’t even know how to describe it. It’s really awesome to see all of our hard work pay off.”

While it is the duo’s first experience at state, Bennett said they are ready to compete.

“My goal has always been to get to state,” Bennett said. “So I’m just going to enjoy the ride and whatever happens, happens.”

Although Benigno and Hayward didn’t advance, they hope to take the experience and get better for their senior year.

“I think for me I was fairly pleased, we changed events around last minute though so it wasn’t ideal,” Hayward said. “For next year I’ll just make sure we start off with the right event, that way it won’t change and be hard to get a good rhythm.”

As for the duo of Bennett and Sun, there’s only one goal in mind.

“Obviously the end goal is to bring back a state championship,” Bennett said.