Singles suits Fayetteville’s Houston
BENTONVILLE — Mary Houston’s transformation from a high school doubles player to a singles competitor is two steps closer to being a success.
The Fayetteville sophomore advanced to the Class 7A state tournament semifinals in convincing fashion, defeating Izzy Furuseth of Rogers Heritage 6-0, 6-0 during Monday’s quarterfinal round at Memorial Park.
“I like this a lot,” Houston said. “I mean, doubles was a blast, but singles is awesome, too. You’re on the court by yourself, so you have to be a lot more focused.”
Houston was so much in control of her match that, once she was finished, she could actually go over and do a little scouting on her next opponent. It turned out to be Little Rock Central’s Eleanor Burks, who advanced with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Ty Noonan of Mount St. Mary.
Those two will face each other in today’s 10 a.m. semifinal match. The other semifinal has Rogers’ Erica Jaggernauth — a 6-2, 6-4 winner over Fort Smith Southside’s Anna Magness — going against Kate Files of Fort Smith Northside, which moved on by defeating Conway’s Holly Jones 6-1, 6-1.
“Basically, I just wanted to get the ball in high and heavy,” Houston said. “I wanted to hit a good deep ball and push her back, then get a short ball and put her away. What worked was hitting high and to her backhand, but I was hitting my slap forehand way too hard.”
Jaggernauth trailed for most of the second set before she rallied and won the last three games against Magness.
The semifinal matches are set for 10 a.m., with the championship matches slated for 1 p.m.
On the boys side, Fayetteville Coach Darin Phelan offered simple instructions for his doubles duo of Jack Mason and Jackson Runnels.
“Aggressive! That’s the word!” the Bulldogs tennis coach shouted.
At the time, his duo were tied at 4-4 in the second set against Little Rock Central’s Ben Heflin and Jake Maxson. Heflin and Maxson already were up one set to none after taking the first set 6-4.
Mason and Runnels responded by winning the final two sets 7-5, 7-5 to advance to today’s Class 7A state semifinals at 10 a.m. They’ll take on Rogers’ Cooper Gommell and Payne Henry, who advanced by knocking off Little Rock Central’s Henry Nolan and Steven Weeks.
“There was a little bit of doubt after they went up 1-0,” Mason said. “The first set we struggled with what coach had taught us. We didn’t really stick with the basics, but by the second and third set, we were able to turn it around, do what he taught us and pull it out.”
The intensity of the situation spilled over into the crowd, resulting in a verbal back and forth among fans, players and officials over several close calls.
“I’ve been playing in these tournaments for three years now and it still gets to me sometimes,” Runnels said. “But a large crowd gets me going a little bit more. You feel like you should probably put on a show with all of these people watching, but you still have to stay composed and play your game.”
One of the shortest boys matches was Fayetteville’s Jake Sweeney defeating Little Rock Catholic’s Tucker Harris in the singles quarterfinals. Sweeney, a freshman, posted the only 6-0, 6-0 victory Monday.