Three area teens will play this morning in the Class 5A state tennis semifinals after advancing out of the first two rounds Monday at Lakeside.
Lakeside's Ian Hollis and the Lady Rams' doubles team of Olivia Dolan and Mary Catherine Cowen advanced to this morning's semifinal round.
"We have Ian Hollis still standing into the semifinals, and we have Olivia Dolan and M.C. Cowen moving on to the semifinals tomorrow as well," said Lakeside tennis coach Shawny Green. "We would like to have more qualify, but that didn't happen today. It was some really tough competition."
Hollis will face West Memphis' Carlson Bennage in his semifinal round, and the girls' doubles team are set to face Searcy's Kamie Provence and Molly Parker.
Hollis advanced to the boys singles semifinal after defeating Beebe's Blake Robertson and Jonesboro's Kyle Clayton. He downed Robertson in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0, but he dropped his first set to Clayton, 4-6. The second set went to a tiebreak with Hollis taking the 7-6 (4) win before securing his semifinal berth with a 6-2 third set.
Lakeside will also have a team in the girls' doubles semifinal after the 5A-South champion pairing of Dolan and Cowen defeated Jonesboro's Jillian Morrison and Peyton Mullins in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1. Dolan and Cowen received a bye in the opening round with the conference title.
Lakeside's Haley Fauber, who won the 5A-South girls singles title last week at Lakeside, defeated Russellville's Paige Davis in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0, but she fell to Mountain Home's Emily Helde in straight sets in the second round, 6-1, 6-0. Caroline Johnson, who was also in the tournament for the Lady Rams, fell to Greenwood's Abigail Woodrig in straight sets in the opening round, 6-0, 6-0.
"We played some really good teams and some really good individual players," Green said. "They were just really tough matches."
Lakeside's Blake Wooldridge also advanced to the second round after defeating Greenbrier's Jackson Groves-Scott in three sets, 6-1, 6-7 (6), 6-2, but Jonesboro's Eric Richardson defeated him in the quarterfinals, 6-3, 6-4. Lake Hamilton's Jacob Praetzel fell to Nettleton's Mark Belk in the first round, 6-0, 6-3.
Lakeside's Isabella Calhoun and Marion Nutt won the first set of the girls doubles opener, but Mountain Home's Sarah Godfrey and Micaela McLean won the second and third sets to advance to the quarterfinals, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Lake Hamilton's pairing of Raegan Hickam and Cristen Harris fell in the first round to Greenwood's Leighton Haralson and Karly Fisher, 7-5, 6-2.
The Lake Hamilton boys' doubles team of Cole Plyler and Jace Robbins took the first set from Greenbrier's Brady Jerry and Trey Hoopchuck, but the Greenbrier team advanced with wins in the second and third sets, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.
The National Weather Service predicts a 50 percent chance of rain today, so Green said plans have been made in the event of rain.
"We're going to keep our fingers crossed (that it does not rain)," she said. "We're going to start at 9 a.m., and hopefully, we can at least get through the first round.
If we have to go ahead and start those second rounds a little bit earlier, we will. If need be, we may end up at the country club playing a few matches indoors in the afternoon. Hopefully, if we can get through the semifinals tomorrow and make it to the finals, we only have four matches to put on, technically, so hopefully we can make it."
Today's semifinal rounds start at 9 a.m. with the finals anticipated to follow soon after.
Sports on 10/09/2018