Posted: Wed, 11 May 2011 01:07 PM - 12,759 Readers

By: Butch Hart

The Lake Travis doubles team of Conor O'Rourke and Austin Mayo outlasted gusty winds, on-court temperatures that occasionally hovered around 100 degrees and their Class 4A opponents to walk away with a state championship.

O'Rourke, a senior, and Mayo, a junior, defeated Brad Hinkle and Hunter Ward of Montgomery in the boys doubles final, winning 6-2, 6-4 Tuesday at Penick-Allison Tennis Center.

Smiling broadly, Mayo and O'Rourke hoisted their gold medals in front of a cheering faction of schoolmates who rooted on the duo during the two-day tournament .

"This is so cool, it is just amazing," O'Rourke said.

While O'Rourke and Mayo made short work of Hinkle and Ward in their 4A final, Blanco's mixed-doubles team of Austin Carrola and Kelsey Schwind had their hands full in their 2A title match.

Facing Wall's team of Bryce Pfingsten and Emily Talley at Lakeway World of Tennis, Carrola and Schwind won the opening set in a tiebreaker (7-4) before taking the second set 6-4.

A trio of New Braunfels players won silver medals at the 5A state tournament at Penick-Allison.

New Braunfels' Tanner Brown lost to Mansfield's Andrew Korinek, a University of Texas signee, 6-2, 6-2 in the boys singles final. The Unicorns' mixed-doubles team of Beau and Liza Fieldsend fell in three sets in their final.

Siblings, the Fieldsends lost to the Houston Memorial team of Michael Reichmann and Katie Davis 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6). On Monday, Reichmann and Davis defeated the Westlake duo of Casey Sutton and Robin Chou 7-5, 7-5 in the semifinals.

On Tuesday, the Fieldsends opened a 5-3 lead in the tiebreaker before Reichmann and Davis rallied to tie it 5-5. Beau Fieldsend's winner gave New Braunfels a 6-5 lead, but Reichmann and Davis scored three straight points to close out the match.

"Both teams had the chance to win and both teams played with nerves on end," New Braunfels coach David Mueller said. "It was just a tough way to finish the season."

*  Story Contributed by: Butch Hart